3 ways to balance biometric voter registration promise, concerns

Use of biometrics raises opposition

Still, research and opposition to biometric voter authentication is abundant, particularly on current challenges in vote deduplication, voter data protection and privacy, consumer protection laws, and susceptibility to hacking and breach of sensitive data.

An MIT study uncovered the concerns of biometrically enabled mobile voting technologies in the U.S., including vulnerabilities that hackers can use to alter, stop or expose votes, as well as recover secret ballot information.

Another investigation into biometric authentication in Papua New Guinea found deduplication efforts -- the elimination of duplicate votes from one voter -- to be unsuccessful; inconsistent and incomplete biometric enrollment, often skipping the biometric verification step completely; and minors enrolled in the voter registry to receive a fake digital ID.

Biometric authentication challenges require new security policies

Laws around biometric data collection and governmental or corporate use are highly fragmented or lacking across different countries, states, territories and jurisdictions, which hampers responsible use, security and voter protections.

To address the challenges to mass adoption of biometrically authenticated voter registration, it's important to consider the following:

Data governance, security and privacy. To manage new and growing biometrics data, AI governance is critical to map flows, take inventory, and manage access and compliance. Governments and agencies must provide, update and manage physical and cybersecurity and -safety tools, as well as incorporate security training for employees and third-party ecosystem partners, including any organization that has access to voter biometrics data for any purpose.

Data sharing and interoperability within the larger data ecosystem. Policymakers must provide guidance to ensure alignment and mitigate fragmentation across existing data sets. In the Philippines, the country uses securely collected biometric data from its Department of Foreign Affairs in passport registration to register voters.

Policy guidance, new policy and policy reform. Leaders must collaborate on the development of ethical and accountability principles in the design, deployment and use of biometric authentication.

The Biometrics Institute initially shared this guidance at its 2020 online Congress, "the use of biometrics must be proportionate, with basic human rights, ethics and privacy at heart."

The guidance also requires safeguards that ensure rigorous review, fair operations and operator accountability principles that serve as the initial foundation for biometric authentication adoption as part of a larger digital identity strategy.