A biometrics revolution is underway across the Global South. Undoubtedly boosted by security and anti-migration policies, biometrics is now also being deployed in the name of development and democracy. Over the last two decades, more than half of the countries in Africa have adopted biometrics to identify voters. Based on a multi-sited fieldwork, this research examines the role of vendors, donors, electoral assistance experts, and African political elites in the development of biometric voting. It retraces the trajectory of a technology that was initially promoted as a solution to crises. The research shows how biometrics has come to be associated with promises of fraud-free elections, peaceful democracy – and an Africa propelled into a technological future. This technological ‘solution’ has flourished against all odds. It has imposed itself as a standard, despite its exorbitant cost, resounding technological failures, and limited impact on the quality of elections (in the best-case scenario). The research also explores how this technopolitics shapes both the practices and conceptions of democracy. The technological solution reframes the very problems it was supposed to solve, yet is also an object of political struggle. Ultimately, analyzing social experiments conducted across Africa contributes to a deeper and more critical understanding of the interplay of technology, the market and politics.