KPU to use WhatsApp to verify voters’ ID card

JAKARTA. How can we distinguish between original identity cards (KTP) and fake ones without card-reading equipment?

That question may pop into the heads of officers at Jakarta polling stations when serving unregistered voters on election day.

Verification may be a tough job because based on Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) data, of almost 7 million eligible voters, around 24,000 Jakarta residents are still unregistered for the upcoming election on Feb. 15.

Those people may exercise their voting rights by using electronic ID cards or (recommendation letters) issued by the Directorate General for Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) to prove they are Jakarta residents.

The KPU Jakarta said previously that it did not have particular methods or equipment to help suket local poll administrators (KPPS) detect fake documents.

However, thanks to technology, measures to prevent election fraud involving the use of fake e-ID cards for voting will be easier and cheaper with the WhatsApp messenger service.

The national KPU and Home Affairs Ministry have devised a method to verify the validity of residents’ e-IDs. This system might be the answer to increasing concerns in the past week about fake IDs.

During the election, if officers doubt the validity of a resident’s e-ID, they can take a picture of the suspicious card and send it to a WhatsApp group that includes Dukcapil officers and KPPS in their respective area.

The Dukcapil officer will then check the Population Administration Information System (SIAK) to see whether the data on the card is valid.

The KPU Jakarta has welcomed the idea as it has yet to find a way to verify voters’ documents, a commissioner said.

“We will inform KPPS about this verification [method] soon. We hope each officer has a smartphone so we can implement this idea,” KPU Jakarta commissioner M. Sidik said on Tuesday.

Sidik said the commission would formulate steps for the verification process including whether it would provide smartphones or internet access to officers without WhatsApp.

Separately, the Home Affairs Ministry’s Population and Civil Registration Director General Zudan Arif Fakrulloh expressed his readiness to implement the system.

Although election day has been declared a national holiday, Zudan has ordered all Dukcapil employees to work to assist polling station officers in verifying voters’ data.

“Not only verifying e-KTPs, Dukcapil Agency officers can also help KPPS officers to verify the validity of suket because the letters basically contain data on residents, just like identity cards,” Zudan told The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay suggested that KPPS officers should be careful when verifying suket.

“If they are unsure about the validity of the suket, they can request that voters show other identity documents like a driver’s license or student card. The officers should check whether the name, address and photo in the letter are the same as their identity cards,” Hadar said.

In addition, Sidik said the commission would prioritize serving Jakartans whose names were on the final voter list (DPT) before serving unregistered voters.

After serving all registered voters, he added, officials would move to serving unregistered residents, starting from 12 p.m., an hour before voting closes. (Callistasia Anggun Wijaya)