EC to deploy two biometric verification kits per polling station

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As Ugandans warm up for the 2026 general election, the Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama, has said they will deploy two biometric voter verification kits at each polling station, which will be operated by one officer.

He said they have recruited and trained some 1,053 information technology personnel who trained 50,739 biometric machine operators to be deployed at every polling station.

“We are deploying two [polling] kits per polling station, but we shall have one operator for these kits. 

"Now in these few days, we are going to embark on a massive sensitisation drive on radios, TVs, gatherings, and so on to tell people what they will find at the polling station,” said Byabakama on Thursday (January 8), before flagging off the first batch of voting materials to the 146 district offices across the country at the EC warehouse in Ntinda, Kampala.

The country will go to the polls next Thursday (January 15), to elect the next President and Members of Parliament.

Uganda has a total of 21,681,491 registered voters across 50,739 polling stations countrywide.

By the time of writing this, the voting materials heading to 12 districts had already been dispatched. That is: Mitooma, Bundibugyo, Bukedea, Luwero, Dokolo, Wakiso, Abim, Namayingo, Yumbe, Mbale and the cities of Masaka and Hoima.

EC acting secretary Richard Kamugisha hailed the first dispatchment of polling kits as a milestone in preparation for the forthcoming general election.

He said 39 other districts were also set to receive the materials on Thursday.