The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has authorized the use of manual voter registers in a total of 238 polling stations in Makueni and Kakamega Counties.

In a Tuesday afternoon media brief, IEBC authorized poll officers to use the manual registers in 84 polling stations in Makueni and 154 stations in Kakamega after KIEMS kits failed.

IEBC Vice Chairperson Juliana Cherera says the Commission is working through its ICT officials to resolve any issues with KIEMS kits reported by returning and presiding officers.

Justus Nyang'aya. PHOTO/IEBC

Cherera spoke hours after IEBC commissioner Justus Nyang'aya had denied reports of widespread failure of the KIEMS kits saying only 200 kits had experienced technical hitches.

"What we have received and addressed is about 200 failure of KIEMS kits out of 46,229 kits, this is not a widespread break down," said Nyanga'aya at a press conference by IEBC.

Nyang'aya indicated that the electoral commission had anticipated that some of the voter identification gadgets would fail, but denied that that did not amount to widespread errors.

The commission has also directed that voting be extended by the number of hours lost in polling stations where the start of voting was delayed.