Every voter registration drive begins with a simple question: where do I go? For many young Kenyans, the answer has not been easy to find. Information about registration centres can be scattered, hard to verify or slow to reach people outside major towns. When the details are unclear, the first step toward participation can feel like a barrier in itself.
Young people make up a large share of Kenya's population and electorate, and many are approaching registration for the first time. They needed accurate, fast information available on the devices they already use. Yunitok, Kenya's U-Report platform, set out to provide it.
We developed a Voter Registration Centres Chatbot to take the guesswork out of the process. The design was deliberately simple. A young person selects their county, then their constituency, and receives a list of voter registration centres approved by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). There are no long documents to search and no need to rely on hearsay. The user gets verified information in a few steps.
The chatbot works on SMS, WhatsApp and Telegram, which means a young person does not need a smartphone or a data bundle to use it, and does not need to travel anywhere to find out where to go.
On Friday, 14 February 2025, Yunitok launched the chatbot and sent it straight to more than 419,000 registered users across the three channels. Instead of waiting for young people to discover the tool, it went to them as the national registration exercise began.
The response came quickly. In the first six days, the chatbot recorded 112,784 interactions, and 43,141 young people completed the full flow. Users also sent positive feedback. They valued how fast and clear the chatbot was, and many appreciated that they could share centre details with friends and peers, so that one person's search could help several others.
Usage came from every region of Kenya. Nairobi recorded the most searches, followed by Kisumu, Kakamega, Nakuru and Mombasa. Interest was not limited to a few urban areas. Young people in different parts of the country were looking for the same thing and found it in the same place.
Why it matters
These results say something beyond the numbers. They show a strong appetite among young people for credible, timely and youth-friendly information during national civic processes. When the information is reliable and easy to reach, young people use it, act on it and pass it on to others.
The chatbot also shows what digital platforms can do for equity. A young person in Kakamega and one in Nairobi received the same verified information, in the same way, at the same speed. In a process as important as voter registration, that kind of equal access matters.
Looking ahead
The chatbot has shown what a trusted, mobile-first channel can do for civic participation, and Yunitok will build on it as the national voter registration exercise moves into its next phase. The goal is that every young person has the information they need to register, vote and help shape the future of their community.
Your vote matters. Your voice matters. To join Yunitok, send "VOTE" to get started.
