IEBC unveils app for real-time poll updates
What you need to know:
- The app will be another platform for delivering results alongside the tallying centre displays and the IEBC website.
Waiting for election results will not be the same again after the electoral commission developed a mobile phone application for receiving provisional results.
From wherever a person is, the app makes it possible for them to get real-time updates on an Android device from anywhere across the globe.
IEBC launched the app on the Google Play website a few days ahead of the by-elections held on November 17. It was re-launched on November 22.
The app will be another platform for delivering results alongside the tallying centre displays and the IEBC website.
In its current state, the app can only be used by persons whose devices run on Android version 2.2 and above.
However, there are plans to make the app available to users of other mobile software.
“Android smartphones are among the most popular devices in use today. So we embarked on developing a gadget for smartphones running on the Android operating system. We will avail the application to other smartphone platforms, such as the iPhone, very soon,” said Mr Dismas Ong’ondi, the electoral commission’s ICT director.
The app relays real-time results of elections that have been held in a day. It gives a user the ability to select the election which results they want to view.
“All these developments have helped us to reduce long periods of anxious waiting for election results as well as de-congest the tallying centres,” Mr Ong’ondi told Sunday Nation.
By the time of writing this article, the app had been downloaded by between 100 and 500 people. Three users had already given their critiques on the site, all of which were positive.
The app was developed by an ICT team of the IEBC in collaboration with local ICT company. It took two months for it to be completed and it did not cost a cent.
“The application was developed as part of the extended support from Google/JapakGIS to the Commission. IEBC did not pay any development costs,” Mr Ong’ondi said.
Can the interface accommodate a huge influx of data like during a General Election? Mr Ong’ondi was optimistic about its ability.
“The application is served by an interface specifically designed to handle this kind of demands. The interface has been tested and it’s proven that it can handle such traffic,” he said.
