Abstract

The SOV system provides online voters registration forms for students where students
registered are allowed to log in as either students or delegates or candidates. Each
registered user has a password to log in. The system provides an interactive platform where
voters and candidates interacts and thus candidates perform their campaigns. The system
computes and gives the election results for all the posts and provides reports for the whole
election process. The main objective of this system is to design, develop and implement an
efficient, user friendly, interactive web based student voting system. The methodology used is
[Link] programming language was used as the programming language while MySql
database management system was used for the backend.
 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study.

Elections form a critical process in democratic systems and application of

information technologies to their management is a great milestone towards realizing

effectiveness and efficiency not only in the results of the election process itself but

also in the financial implications that come up with the process.

One basic feature of student’s unionism is the right to be able to choose their

leaders by themselves through the processes of elections. And one basic feature of

democracy that cuts across all divides of people is the act of election. Democracy thus

encourages individual freedom according to the rule of law, so that people can behave

and express themselves as they choose. This not only gives people the chance to

choose their leaders, but also air their views on issues affecting their well–being. For a

democratic government, public opinion is the most important determinant to establish

a government and voting is the process through which people display their opinion

and help to setup a democratic government. So the voting system should be reliable,

accurate and above all must be transparent.

In the paper or manual voting system, a voter usually goes to the voting

stations, known as voting units. After direct person-person verification with some IDs,

the voter is allowed to vote. The voter is then given a ballot paper which allows a

single vote. Once the ballot paper is used, it cannot be reused. However, this ballot

paper must also be anonymous as voters do not need to display their identity. I.e. to

say, that the ballot paper must identify the voter as being permitted to vote, but not

reveal their actual identity. Traditional polling methods trust a lot of parties during the

election.
 The various drawbacks of a traditional electioneering system are mainly

collusion between the electronic officials and contestants, the queuing time, delayed

results, overworked tallying officials and the undeniable fact of human errors. The

existing voting system did not provide reliable statistics on voting history in the

college and thus campaigners lacked the ground to apply scientific voter forecasting

methods resolving to trial and error methodologies which are error prone and

inconsistent.

Reinforcing a one voter one vote policy is difficult in such a situation and

malpractices as rigging are not uncommon in manual voting system. It is impossible

to completely rule out the need for technology and electronic voting, with the growing

number of eligible voters and manual ballot papers involved. Using Maurid Poly as a

case study, it was very easy or manageable in the past to conduct elections because,

the institution had few numbers of students (eligible voters). But now the numbers of

students have increased and have a high possibility of increasing higher, in the nearest

future. The institution is growing beyond bounds and the manual system of voting

which in so many previous Students’ union government (SUG) elections had caused

more than a lot of chaos.

1.2 Statement of the Problem:

Using the decade old election system to collect votes from the students is no

longer considered efficient due to the various reoccurring errors. The

traditional/manual voting system employed in the management of electioneering

procedures at the institution were not foolproof and were prone to inconsistencies,

election malpractices and untimely delivery of results leading to questions about the

credibility and validity of the results the returning election officer announces. Much

expense was incurred in the production, transportation, storage and destruction of the
ballot papers and ballot boxes. So time has come for the paper based primordial

voting system which has already proven itself an inefficient and slow procedure to be

changed to something more innovative and stress free. Most voters (Students) are

busy with their various academic works and Most of the voters (Students) are living

far away from the school environments/campus, been the main voting centre, some

voter’s don't like to wait in queues thus due to these reasons, voters don't visit the

pooling booth and Percentage of vote is decreasing.

These days voting system is somehow complicated and time consuming, i.e.

this process that involves; voters manually going to a voting centre and shows voter

card (Id) to the voting officer. This voting card will be used for authentication during

the actual voting process at the voting point. Where they believe that their names are

made available and after authentication with this, a voters’ list will be generated for

each constituency. The name of such voter will be searched in the list and each voter

will then have to go to a polling station and cast their vote by placing their thumb to

print against the name or symbol (Logo) of individual or aspirants of their choice.

Also a large man power is needed for checking voter id, voter list and marking

the finger and at each polling station. So election commission has to pay the cost for

the required man power.

After much studies on various past SUG elections of the Maurid Poly,Mbiaso,

and their failures in accuracy, security, fairness, adequacies etc. This study therefore

laid emphasis on the design of online voting (E-Voting) system for Maurid

Polytechnic,Mbiaso Student’s union government elections.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The aim of this project is to design an online voting (E-voting) system for

Maurid Polytechnic,Mbiaso, student union government elections. This will help the

electioneering committee of the Student Union Government achieve the following:

a. To conduct a free and fair election using electronic machines.

b. To replace the current inefficient manual system of voting in the college.

c. To ensure credibility in elections by preventing double voting.

d. To also help the student union government reduce the huge expenses and

stress incurred from conducting manual elections.

1.4 Significance of the Study.

In view of the rapid development of computer technology in virtually all fields

of operation in Maurid Polytecnic and its use in relation to information management,

it has become important to look into the development of electronic voter’s registration

system to enable the student’s union government to achieve the following:

(a) Conduct free and fair election.

(b) Safeguard data and information in the system.

(c) Reduce workload in the process of conducting election.

(d) Keep accurate record of votes.

1.5 Scope of the Study.

The research work is designed to enable Electoral Commission of the Student

Union Government of Maurid Polytechnic,Mbiaso, to use electronic device to capture

voters’ information. The design will cover some security issues and authentications.

1.6 Limitation of the Study

During the design of this project work, Time factor was the greatest barrier to

the successful completion of this exercise since it had to be done within the semester.
 The study was limited to federal college of education (Technical) Omoku.

1.7 Research Questions:

In order to arrive at the stated objectives of this study, the researcher attempted

to provide answers to the following questions:

a. What importance is Online voting (E-voting) system to the student union

government elections of Maurid Polytechnic?

b. How can online voting (E-voting) system solve the various inadequacies

created by the current voting system (Manual voting system) of the student

union government elections of Maurid Polytechnic,Mbiaso?

c. What level of assurance is given to the student union government of Maurid

Polytecnic, that the proposed system (Online voting system) will be better and

more efficient than the current system (manual voting system)?

d. What are the major predictors of adopting online voting (E-voting) system in

the student union government elections of Maurid Polytecnic,Mbiaso?

1.8 Organization of Work

The study is structured into five chapters. The first chapter generally

introduced the study. The second chapter reviewed relevant literatures which consists

brief history of online voting. The third chapter consists of research methodology,

under this chapter we talked about research design, area of study, population of the

study and sample, data collection techniques, procedure for data analysis etc. The

fourth chapter discussed about the data presentation and empirical analysis. The

purpose of this chapter is to analyze the data obtained through questionnaires from the

sample and used them to compute answers to the research. Then, we shall accept or

reject the hypotheses based on stated acceptance and rejection rules at specific level

of significance as well as the discussion of the findings about entrepreneurship

 education and recommendation of further studies. Finally the conclusion segment of

the work closes the study.

1.9 Definition of Terms.

Student’s Union Government: This is a body, made of individuals (students) with

the power to make and execute laws to control the students in a given institution.

They are groups of people who hold monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a

given institution.

Election: this is a process of choosing a leader, members of parliament, councilors or

other representatives by popular vote.

Voting: This is an act or the process through which people display their opinion and

help to setup a democratic government.

Online Voting System: Also known as e-voting is a term encompassing several

different types of voting embracing both electronic means of counting votes.

Electronic voting technology can include punched cards, optical scan voting systems

and specialized voting kiosks (including self-contained direct-recording electronic

voting systems or DRE)

Campus: The grounds and buildings of a university or college.

 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

A voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a

choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum. A voting

system enforces rules to ensure valid voting, and how votes are counted and

aggregated to yield a final result. Common voting systems are majority rule,

proportional representation or plurality voting with a number of variations and

methods such as first-past-the-post or preferential voting. The study of formally

defined voting systems is called social choice theory or voting theory, a subfield of

political science, economics, or mathematics.

With the proportional representation system several members of parliament

are to be elected per constituency. Basically every political party presents a list of

candidates and voters can select a list and vote for a political party. Parties are

assigned parliamentary seats proportionally to the number of votes they get.

According to Douglas (2003), the purpose of Electronic voting technology is

to provide a plain, simple and secret voting process, speed up the counting of ballots,

reduce the cost of paying staff to count votes manually and can provide improved

accessibility for disabled voters. However, there has been contention, especially in the

United States, that electronic voting could facilitate electoral fraud and may not be

fully auditable. In addition, electronic voting has been criticized as unnecessary and

expensive to introduce.

Several countries have cancelled e-voting systems or decided against a large-

scale rollout, notably the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. Yet

electronic voting system has been practicing widely for last two decades. But
 historically it is seen that it has been using more than last 150 years. The first concept

of electronic voting ideas comes from de Brettes. He develops an electronic decision-

making telegraph in 1849.

According to Thomas A. (2008), electronic vote recorder was invented by

Thomas Edison in 1869. In this system, a signal to a central recorder, listed the names

of the members in two columns of metal type headed ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ [Vote Recorder,

2008], and was introduced first automated voting system in 1886.

2.1 Theoretical Literature Review

Several theories and literatures abound to serve as platform for the explanation

of the nature, processes, manifestations and importance of voting system. Nurudeen

A. Iromini’s theory developed in 1889 dwells on the “categories of voting system” he

stated that Voting system can be generally categorized into two major types namely:

(a) Traditional Voting System (TVS) and (b) Electronic Voting System (EVS). The

two basic voting systems without electronic means are: (i) paper ballot method and

(ii) mechanical lever machine method.

The paper ballot system, which is still very common in sub- Sahara Africa,

Nigeria not an exemption usually, employs uniform ballots of various stock weights

on which the names of all candidates and issues are printed. Voters record their

choices, in private by marking or thumb print the boxes next to the candidate or issue

choice they select and drop the voted ballot in a sealed ballot box. The paper ballot

system was first adopted in the Australian state of Victoria in 1856 and in the

remaining Australian states over the next several years, where it became known as the

“Australian ballot.” New York became the first American state to adopt the paper

ballot for state wide elections in 1889. As of 1996, paper Ballots were still used by
1.7% of the registered voters in the United States. They are used primarily as

alternative voting system in small communities and rural areas. In the mechanical

lever voting system, the name of each candidate or ballot issue choice is assigned a

particular lever in a rectangular array of levers on the front of the machine. A set of

printed strips visible to the voters identifies the lever assignment for each candidate

issue choice. The levers are horizontal in their unvoted position. And when a voter

enters the booth and closes the curtain by means of a lever, the machine unlocks for

voting. The titles of all elective offices are listed on the face of the machine along

with the party candidates running for each office. Above each name is a lever which,

when depressed, indicates a vote for that candidate.

When the voter pulls the curtain open to leave, the machine automatically

registers the vote and is cleared for use by the next person. Only one candidate for

each office is allowed to be selected during this process. If all mechanical connect

ions are fully operational during the voting period and the counters are initially set to

zero. The position of each counter at the close of the polls indicates the number of

votes cast on the lever that drives it. Interlocks in the machine prevent the voter from

voting for more choices than permitted.

In electronic voting system, voter records their secured and secret ballot

electronically using modern technological device such as computer and mobile

devices where the system can compile and tabulate results automatically. Electronic

Voting System (EVS) can be described as a voting system by which election data are

recorded, stored, and processed electronically, primarily as digital information.

Electronic voting (also known as e-voting) encompasses both electronic means of

casting a vote and counting the votes. Theoretical study about existing electronic

voting techniques was given as well as requirements and security issues of modern
electronic voting systems. He also presented modern voting solutions including

security functionalities provided by the system, the cryptographic techniques used and

some threats and attacks to the systems.

Richards and Drake’s characteristics theory:

According to Richard S. and Drake P.M. (1985), voting systems must be

transparent and comprehensible enough that voters and candidates can readily accept

the results of an election. For a voting system to be considered transparent and

comprehensible, some important criteria must be met: First, the anonymity of voter’s

ballot must be preserved in order to ensure that the voter is safe when voting against a

candidate and also to guarantee that voters have no evidence that proves which

particular candidates received their vote. It is believed that the existence of such

evidence could allow votes to be bought. Secondly, the voting system must be

tamper-proof in order to prevent a wide range of attacks, including ballot stuffing by

voters and incorrect tallying by insiders (poll officials). Thirdly, it should be user-

friendly. This means that it should be easily comprehensible and usable by the entire

voting populace. Electronic voting (e-voting) is one of the pillars of the democracy,

which refers to the use of computers or computerized voting equipments to cast and

tabulate ballots in an elect ion in a trustable manner.

Several works have been done in the area of electronic voting system for the

monitoring of election process on our campuses. The US has been experimenting with

different forms of electronic voting system for a number of years. Currently,

numerous voting technologies have been implemented across the country. In the year

2004 presidential election, around 40 million votes were cast electronically in polling

sites. Voting over the internet on the other hand is met with great skepticism.

Fingerprints identification was integrated into electronic voting machine using

microcontroller. The use of fingerprint to identify voters not only guarantees the

voters’ anonymity but also ensures a one-man one-vote system. In recent years,

electronic voting systems have been deployed in all US elections. Despite the fact that

cryptographic integrity checks are used in most systems, several reports have

documented serious security vulnerabilities of electronic voting terminals. An

overview of the typical security and election vulnerabilities found, in most, if not all,

electronic elect ion systems were also presented.

Also, in the paper presented by Richards S. and Drake P.M., he analyzed the

security considerations for a remote internet voting systems based on the system

architecture of remote internet voting. The feasibility of successful carrying out of

remote electronic voting over the existing internet infrastructure that conforms to the

requirements of a public election process was also examined using Delov-Yao Threat

Analysis Model. Multifactor authentication and cryptographic hash function methods

was used to improve the authentication and integrity of e-voting system.

In Belgium, a new prototype i.e. an improved paper-based voting system,

developed by a consortium led by Smartmatic was employed. According to paper

presented in Taita Taveta University College, he described the process undertaken to

achieve development and deployment of a web based system to promote free and fair

democratic electioneering process. The system was developed using the incremental

prototyping due to the adaptive nature of web based applications and the system

proved that a computerized solution is possible with elimination of human related

faults that are a commonplace in employment of human clerks to manage the election

process.
2.2 Empirical Literature Review

This category of voting “Electronic voting” is potentially broad, referring to

several distinct possible stages of electronic usage during the course of an election.

Electronic voting is a voting process where electronic machines are used to facilitate

vote without using paper ballots.

In defining the word online voting (E-voting), this study takes a look at various

literature concepts on e-voting.

According to Cetinkaya and Cetinkaya (2007), e-voting systems include three

actors: voter, registration authorities and tallying authorities. Voters have the right for

voting, and registration authorities register eligible voters before the “election day”.

These authorities ensure that only registered voters can vote and they vote only once

on the election’s day and tallying authorities collect the cast votes and tally the results

of the election. Tallying authorities may be counter, collector and /or tallies.

Kahani, (2005) the literature presents four categories of e-voting, depending on the

level of security, privacy, and trust that they maintain; these categories are e-

commerce, trust authority, individually verifiable and universally verifiable. In the

first type there is no security except possibly on the communication channels. Ballot

box stuffing is tolerated, the voter's privacy is not maintained and vote tampering is

not prevented. It is suitable for Internet polling site. In trusted authority systems the

election officials are trusted to maintain the integrity of the election, voter privacy is

somehow maintained and vote tampering is prevented in these systems. This type of

voting systems is suitable for small-scale voting, for which the election official can be

trusted. In individually verifiable systems conducting the e-voting process is secured,

efficient and private elections are possible, the disadvantage of this type is that the

voter is responsible for insuring that his vote has been accounted for in the final
election tally, these systems are impractical for civic elections as no independent

observer can verify the elections. In the last category of Internet voting, universally

verifiable, anybody can verify the election without compromising voter's privacy.

Provision of this level of protection is difficult. These systems can only be used for

yes/no election due to contradictions among requirements.

Cetinkaya and Cetinkaya, (2007), e-voting system should also involve four

phases: Voters register themselves to registration authorities and the list of eligible

voters is compiled before the election day, on the election day registered voters

request ballot or voting privilege from the registration authorities and the registration

authorities check the credentials of those attempting to vote and only allow those who

are eligible and registered before. Voter casts his vote and finally the tallying

authorities count the votes and announce the election result.

According to Storer and Duncan, (2004) Yarmouk University (YU) is the

second oldest university in Jordan and account for more than 30,000 students in 11

colleges and 53 departments. The university conducts a yearly election of students’

council, where such event is considered the most important and might lead to critical

disputes based on political and social issues. This study tried to explore how students

will perceive electronic systems used in an election process and what factors will

influence such process. The study utilized the technology acceptance model (TAM)

with some extensions to it. Based on the literature e-voting refers to the use of

computer or computerized voting equipment to cast ballot in an election, this term

sometimes is used more specifically to refer to voting that takes place over the

Internet.

According to Toe, Srivastava and LiJiang, (2008), "E-government is the use of

information and communication technologies and the Internet to enhance the

 accessibility to and delivery of all facets of government services and operations for

the benefit of citizens, businesses, employees and other stakeholders is continuously

transforming public services delivery system".

Johnson, (2006), On the other hand, e-democracy is defined as “the use of the

Internet as a medium for democratically selecting political leaders, public policies, or

both".

According to Bozinis and Lakovou, (2005), E-democracy has two main

objectives; the first one is to provide citizens with the accessibility to information and

knowledge about the political process, services and choices available; and the second

one is to make possible the transition from passive information access to active citizen

participation. The main characteristics of e-democracy are dissemination of political

information, e-voting and participation in e-decision making.

According to Kitlan and Joseph, (2008) and Bhatnagar, (2004) When

identifying e-democracy within e-government categories, it fits most under

government-to-citizens (G2C).

2.3.1 Why Use E-Voting

According to Data-monitor (2008), election voting machines have provided a

number of benefits to the election process. For example, direct recording electronic

machines can be equipped with audio or tactile devices that allow disable citizen to

cast ballot independently, they also help conduct election in more efficient and

effective manner, like reducing the cost associated with printing ballot and hiring

extra polling staff. Voting machines can also spit out election tallies much quicker and

more accurately than exhausted polling station staff; they reduce human errors in

generating election result and also reduce the cost of conducting election. So the

major benefits of e-voting could be summarized in the following points: reduced

costs, increased participation and voting options, greater speed and accuracy placing

and tallying votes, greater accessibility and flexibility for the disable.

Bishop and Wagner, (2007) as we pinpointed few benefits of e-voting, some

risks are associated with using and depending on electronic systems. Programming

errors can be very simple like adding semi colon in the wrong place can completely

change a program. There are many risks experienced during the development stage of

any system, product delivery, maintenance between elections and the pre-and post-

election intervals. The greatest threat identified involves a person gaining access to a

voting system and interring malicious code into the voting system software. This

malicious code could exploit vulnerabilities in the voting software to spread virally

from machine to machine causing voting machine to fail to record votes, failing to

comply with legal requirement and calculating vote totals in a way that is inconsistent

with legal requirements. Applying technology to solve one problem may introduce

other problems. For example, E-voting systems are introduced to eliminate paper and

many other problems, but without a paper copy, the voters cannot check that their

votes are correctly recorded and cannot independently validate votes’ totals.

According to Gerlach, (2009) electronic voting can be secure and confidential

as paper-based voting. However, to work properly, such systems must first

incorporate seven design principles. The first is proven security; all protocols and

techniques must be mathematically proven secure. Second, trustworthy design

responsibility; government security agencies should be responsible for creating secure

voting system. Third, source code; must be published and made publicly accessible.

Forth, vote verification; it should be possible to verify that all votes have been

correctly accounted for in the final election tally. Fifth, voters’ accessibility; system

should be accessible to all and easy to use. Sixth, ensure classification: techniques like
 onion routing must be used to ensure classification. And finally, expert oversight;

team of experts selected and approved by all major parties taking part in election.

2.3.2 E-Voting Experiences Around The World

Klossner (2007), and Towns (2008), the State of California allows e-voting

machines to be used only under strict conditions. Polling stations won't be able to

have more than one of those systems in place, and county registrars will have to take

steps such as reinstalling the software and firmware for the devices and resetting them

encryption key. E-voting systems were used by one quarter to one-third of California

voters in November elections year 2006. But during state sponsored review of the

machines and their source code, a team of penetration tester found 15 security

problems, including the ability to exploit flaws in windows.

Songini, (2007), in the case of Florida State, the Florida legislature passed a bill that

would require all voting districts in the state to replace most touch-screen voting

systems with optical scan devices. The bill estimates the cost of replacing the touch-

screen systems at $18.5 million.

Seligson, (2008), in America's voting systems shift from lever machines and hand-

counted paper to optical scanners and touch screens with printed voter-verified paper

audit trails and the system served an estimated 133 million voters on Nov.4

Towns (2008), Vuyst and Fairchild, (2005), On the other hand, and in the

European Union countries, e-voting was introduced as a part of the federal and

provincial elections in Belgium in November 1991, when two cantons were selected

for an experiment in evoting. Through a law of 11 April 1994, this experiment was

broadened and institutionalized to 20% of all voting areas and since 1999, 44% of all

voting is registered electronically to attain 100% by 2006 elections.

 The main objectives of Belgium government from shift to e-voting system are

difficult to manage and control manual voting, reduced the costs, announce the result

earlier and make the result more accurate.

2.3.3 Student’s Council Election Cases

Normally, the elections of students’ council at any institution and anywhere in

the world, doesn’t elicit much attention. Cases of student council elections using e-

voting system:

(Ramos, 2006) In Brazil, the student council elections project was developed

in a public school located in Serra Azul, and it includes the electronic voting system,

developed and used by the student and some. Also, Cleveland high schools are

choosing their student council leaders using e-voting machine.

According to Alrai Newspaper, (2009), In Jordan, the issue is different, as it is

used as a yardstick to measure present and future trends of the Jordanian kingdom.

Also, there is great emphasis on prestigious image of the position within the

university society more than public service for the community. A student candidate in

Yarmouk University must have the following conditions ([Link]): he/she

should have an accumulated average not less than 60%, must have at least a 12 credit

hour load through the semester (a full time student), must not have less than 36 credit

hour to graduate from the university, and did not have any warnings or punishments

during his/her study at the university. In the year 2009, a large fight broke out at

Yarmouk University between students. This resulted in physical damages to windows,

cars and buildings on campus, as well as some injury of people, including a security

guards, the reason cited for the fight was student’s elections.

According to Rawashda, (2009), the objectives of the students’ council

election can be summarized in the following points:

 I. Represent all students in the department and act as a voice for the interests,

opinions, and concerns of that student body of the department.

II. Act as an intermediary between students and the faculty and administration in

the department.

III. Represent the student body in faculty and staff committees and meetings.

Student council election process: In order to vote, a student must be listed in

the enrollment services office.

Rawashda, (2009), Voters must sign the student print-out. Election

administrator then highlights each voter’s name as he/she votes. Once a name has

been highlighted and signed, the student may not vote again. Voter is given

numbered election ballot. Voting will be by secret ballot. Voter fills out ballot (inside

the polling booth) and places his/ her ballot inside the ballot box.

2.3.4 STUDENT’S COUNCIL ELECTION CASES IN NIGERIA

AMBROSE ALLI UNIVERSITY (AAU) Ekpoma, Edo State Nigeria:

According to Ekpoma (2016), as part of efforts to fully digitalize its

operations, the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma-Edo State has conducted

Students’ Union Government (SUG) elections, using Electronic Voting system. With

the voting system, students voted from the comfort of their homes, using smart

phones, computers, ipads and other relevant electronic gadgets. The election produced

Oribhabor Cletus as president and Okogbe Rich Oladele as secretary of the

institution’s apex student union body. The Dean of Students Affairs, Prof. Don

Akhilome described the introduction of e-voting as another landmark achievement

marking the transformation Ambrose Alli University.

RIVERS STATE UNIVERSITY (RSU) PORT-HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE

NIGERIA:

King Onunwor (2017), As the global society gets closer to the appreciation and usage

of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools, its outcome has

continued to be commended among users.

The latest came from the students of Rivers State University (RSU), last Friday after

the successful e-voting system that produced a new body of the Students Union

Government (SUG).

Speaking with The Tide in Port Harcourt, Wednesday one of the students, Emperor

Nnaoma, said that the e-voting system was a key factor in the smooth process of the

exercise.

He noted that the outcome would have been counter-productive, if it was

conducted. Nnaoma pointed out that the powers that be would have also hijacked the

process to the detriment of the students.

The 400-level law students, was of the view that e-voting system should be adopted

to other similar processes in the nation, not only to avoid chaos but to enhance smooth

electoral system. Another student, Geoffery Amadi, who praised the initiators of the

e-voting formula, said it was second to none, sequel to its accuracy and devoid of

mal-practice.

He pointed out that the electronic voting system calmed the SUG election, as students

were busy voting via their cell phones and other internet enabled devices.

The student cum comedian also wants the handlers of the site to ensure that

subsequent exercises are conducted at particular centre or unit.

Maduagu argued that the idea of voting from every point was not the best as it has the

tendency of tainting the process.

 Earlier, he has called on the SUG President-elect, Comrade Bestman Azunwu

to among other things; think on how best to encourage ICT usage among the students,

as he wished him successful tenure in office.

The Tide was also told that the site was hacked by some students.

UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN (UI), KWARA STATE NIGERIA:

According to Babatunde (2014), With an E-Voting System, the students of

University of Ilorin have elected new executives of the Student Union Government

SUG for the 2014-2015 Session. The election which was done via the e-voting system

saw Ahmed Yakub Ishowo, a 300 Level Mathematics student; emerge as the SUG

President-elect after getting 919 votes.

The Chairman of the electoral body, Sulaimon Funsho, described the e-portal

voting system as an innovation that affords students the opportunity to vote for their

candidates of choice without necessarily having to leave the confines of their

classrooms or hostel rooms. The system removed the cumbersome nature of students

having to go and queue to be able to vote, thereby missing their lectures in the

process. Before the Election Day, students were required to complete their voter’s

registration through the University portal. On Election Day, voting commenced at

exactly 7.00a.m. And ended around 6.00p.m. At the end of the election, the ISEC

Chairman, Sulaimon, announced the results at Lecture Theatre 1 in the presence of all

the agents of the various aspirants, security men and campus journalists. Also present

during the announcement of the result were the Dean and Sub-Dean of Student

Affairs, Prof. Abayomi Omotesho and Dr. Abdulraheem Yusuf respectively.

In conclusion, the context of this work defines e-voting system as

encompassing several different types of voting embracing both electronic means of

counting votes. It also includes the use of punched cards, optical scan voting systems

and specialized voting kiosks (including self-contained direct-recording electronic

voting systems or DRE). This system is an innovation that affords students the

opportunity to vote for the candidates of their choice without necessarily having to

leave the confines of their classrooms or hostel rooms. The system will remove totally

the cumbersome nature of students having to go and queue to be able to vote, thereby

missing their lectures or their various individual activities in the process.

This research implies that since there have been series of successes recorded,

about e-voting, the system surely will if adopted by the student union government of

federal college of education (technical) omoku, eradicate totally violence, High

expenses and time wasted in carrying out elections manually.

 CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

3.1 System Investigation

In this system investigation, the researcher started with the method of data collection

adopted with results to modern system. There was an in depth and comprehensive study

carried out in modern system as it consists of the fact methods and analysis of the facts found.

System investigation carried out on the National Independence Electoral Commission (INEC)

office to find the areas through which computerization can be applied and the setback that are

involved in the system.

3.2 Problems of the Existing System

Many problems and delays are encountered in the manual operation the customer care

system at the electorate office. The problems are as follows:

 Delays in the arrival of voting materials and officials. There intentional so as to

frustrate the Nigeria time syndrome.

 Vandalizing of ballot boxes in which their boxes are filled with already thumb printed

cards and use them to replace authentic boxes at the polling centre.

 Network failure.

3.3 Objective of the New System

The new system is a fully computerized system; every aspect of voting is made easy,

timey and enjoyable. In the new system, all information about the voters is fed into the

computer system and stored during election a distinct feature of the voter is also footed and

stored.
3.4 Recommendation of New System

This new system is a fully computerized system and store data during election. A

district feature of the voter is also noted and store. The new system is purposed into

developed a computer based registration system that is aimed to reduce the rate of election

malpractice which have become a canker-worm that eaten deep into the fabrics of the nation

at large.

3.5 Data Analysis

This is a detailed appraisal of the existing system including finding out in more detail

what the existing systems are and what the users requirements of any new or changed

systems are finally. It involves the definition of proposed system projections and dedications

from the recorded response with respect to the case study were made.

3.6 System Design

This involves coordination of efforts of the user department and the data department

getting the new system into operation so that at the end of the design stage a number of tasks

must be computed before the system is installed and ready to operate. The goal of the system

is installed and solves the major problems associated with problems as have been pointed out

earlier, which include;

 Duplication of registration and vote

 Rigging and other electoral malpractice in the techniques of software engineering the

design of new system was modularized into three stages.

 Design of user interface

 Design of the program structure

 The detailed design

 The user interface is the program as it is seen and used by the user. The program

structure specifies how the various modules of the software interacts with one another for

example, how the registration module interacts with voting modules to ensure that only

registered voters in detailed design, the designing of the system is handled at the intra-model

level.

3.7 Output Specification

The purpose of system design is produce specification which will enable the complete

and accurate implementation of the new system.

The input and output of the new system was designed based on data collect.

The element of output medium and procedure are defined here, the program processing to

users via the output interface. The program gives in the following ways:

- To display sample of voters card

- To display an interface of fraud e.g. duplication

3.8 Input Design

The input design contains the pieces if information which are required to update the

master file. The input design is created using Php programming language link together with

Mysql Database Management System (DBMS) programming language. It serves as a medium

for data entry into the system or the proposed system.

Input Specification

Here, all the input element and procedures are specified and defined with consists of:

a. Data Capture Method Specification: This includes all procedures involved in

conveying data to machine sensible for direct input. Common data capture methods,

key to diskette, character recognition, voice regulation etc.

b. Input Media Specification: It could be via console keyboard or digitization.

c. Input Voice Specification: Volume/frequency of input to be accommodated within a

specified time laps must be specified.

d. Data Entry Procedure: Data entry method for given processing depends on jobs

nature.

e. Input data filed layout should be database

1 TABLE STRUCTURE FOR VOTES

Field Type Null Default Comments MIME

voters varchar(24) No

president varchar(64) No

invp varchar(64) No

exvp varchar(64) No

secretary varchar(64) No

treasurer varchar(64) No

auditor varchar(64) No

2. Table structure for login table

 Field Type Null Default Comments MIME

id int(11) No

fname varchar(50) No

lname varchar(50) No

email varchar(50) No

psw text No

gender enum('Male', 'Female') No

hobby varchar(50) No

city_id int(11) No

image text No

status enum('Active', 'Inactive') No

3. Table structure for admin table:

Field Type Null Default Comments MIME

id int(11) No

admin_email varchar(50) No

The data that will serve as input to the new system includes the name of party, age, address,

ward, etc.
3.9 REGISTRATION OF VOTERS

This involves the conventional manual files used in the old system to electronic files

in the disk. In the case of the new system, the new voter will have to fill a registration form,

the administrator will then approve the registration. The voter can now proceed to carry out

the voting.

3.9 System Flowchart

Please see appendix at the back of this project for the flowchart.

3.10 Program Design

This program is designed using the top-down method in which the main program is

first defined and even the remaining sub-program (modular specification). This top down

design is connected to what is called a structural chart as pronounced by Professor Nik Lan

with the principle of simplified interface of Pascal programming language.

Using this techniques, the main program or the “not” or “top” down chart consists the

program detailed design. The detailed was done using Psuedo code which valid program

statements during implementation. A breakdown of the modules is as follows:

a. Voter Registration Modules: This is the first module in the method. It is responsible

for the collection of personal data of voter, when this option is selected by clicking on

it or pressing the underline letter, the registration entry menu is introduced with record

items prompts the voters records are applied and store in a created file.

b. Accreditation Module: This module verifies the voter’s records to ensure that the

information he/she is having corresponds to the one stored in computer. If there is any
 contradiction information the voter is rejected and so cannot vote. O the other hand, if

there is no contradiction, the voter is accredited.

c. Voting Module: A computerized ballot sheet is generated in this section. This has the

list of party’s aspirants and offices from which the voters make a choice by the symbol

of the desired party and aspirations.

d. End Election/Voting Exercise and Display Election Results: A new dialog box will

display showing the election result, ranked with the party with the highest votes.
 CHAPTER FOUR

IMPLEMENTATION AND DOCUMENTATION

4.1 System Requirement

The requirements for a full implantation of the new system include software,

hardware, manpower and environment.

Software Requirement: The software is an application that can be run on virtual server

(WAMP SERVER). It can also be deployed on the internet, when hosted on the ISP server.

As the new system was developed using the Php(Hypertext Preprocesor), it requires the

following software:

 Window operating system

 Dream weaver compiler and other related software that will be useful in the process.

 Wamp server.

 Web browser(e.g google chrome,Mozilla firefox)

Hardware Requirement: Any computer that will be used to run this program will have the

following specification;

- 2.0GHz or computer with a minimum of Pentium IV

- 1024MB RAM

- SVGA colour monitor

- MS-serial or Ps/2 mouse

- Enhanced keyboard
4.2 System Implementation

Implementation follows on from the detailed stage. This involves the co-ordination of

efforts of the user department on gathering the new system into operations. The key tasks

during implementation include:

- Programming language

- Program testing

- Program documentation

- System evaluation

- Change over procedure

- System maintenance

4.3 Training/Educating of the Staff

System failure have often been as a result and expressed for resulting from

computerization. This has always led to sabotage of new system even when everything is

working perfectly well. This fears that computer will take over position should be dispelled

through proper enlighten of the staff concerned. The data analyst would be required to ensure

that all involved with the system was capable of making it an operational success. The

following measures can be taken:

a. Organizing a form where questions can be answered by the implementation team.

b. Publication of related article of the newspaper.

Training can be achieved by: lecture and demonstration. Use of hand-outs and manuals

through all this, the organization will teach the staff on how to use the newly developed

system.
4.4 Program Testing/Running

Copy the folder into the www folder of the wamp. Open your web browser, and type

in the address, launch your wamp server.

4.5 Program Document

Program documentation is a description of the working modules of a program. No

program can be complete without a suitable documentation. It is very important for proper

implementation and in terms of program maintenance. It is one of the criteria required for

program acceptability. It serves as future reference.

Method of Documentation

a. Use of flash drive

b. Use of CD

How to load and run the program: To load the program or package for use, one has to

follow the procedure. Since it runs on a virtual server:

- Launch your browser

- Start your wamp server

- Launch your browser, type in localhost/vote

- The front page of the application will be opened.

4.6 System Evaluation

In evaluating system, try to compare the manure from the new system. In the effect to

do this things are putting in place like the testing of the system, the documentation most
especially the change over procedure that would be applied in the system is to ensure that the

objectives propounded during the feasibility study are successfully achieved.

- Does the system meet the original objectives in terms of cost technician performance and

operation?

- Have all the superseded system being discontinued that is the output accepted as correct?

4.7 Change over Procedure

The work pattern of any establishment will normally be affected by the introduction

of a computer based system especially the user department and management.

- Direct Change Over: Here, the new system is introduced without any reference to

the old system in this method. This happen when there is similarity between old and

new system.

- Parallel Change Over: This is a situation where by the old system process

alongside the new system.

- Pilot Change Over: This may be seen in two ways.

4.8 System Maintenance

The system should be completely abandoned after implementation. For the

maintenance of the system, the following types can be adopted or all of them. It could be

preventive, corrective maintenance

1. Preventive Maintenance: This involves a regular inspection and clearing of the

system to prevent faults (errors) or the breakdown of the system.

2. Corrective Maintenance: This type of maintenance uncovers things in the program

or weakness in the design that were not detected and corrected during the

maintenance period.
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Summary

In this project design the implementation of online registration system in (INEC), the

researcher has been able to design a software that will replace the manual registration system.

The use of an online registration system will enhance in fast calculations of data between the

user and the procedure. Updating and retrieving of message will enable the organization to

customize the system to specific requirement during production phase.

5.2 Conclusion

Election is the only mean of upholding sound democracy and ensuring stability in the

political system of many controls. The use of computerized network system in voting system

in Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nigeria is very important. The

use of expert system that will be used in voting is necessary because it will reduce illegal

means of acquiring more votes to favour a particular party or candidate will be a thing of the

past.

5.3 Recommendations

a. This study has suggested the use of data processing system, network and

communication facilities to a distributed system for accurate routing of information.

b. The installation of electronic voting system in any environment is usually associated

with a reasonable amount of money and hence it is also regarded as a huge

investment.
c. With regard to this, it needs proper organization management and maintenance so

that predefined objectives will be achieved and to drive optimum benefits of the

system and to make long lasting.

d. The management should adopt the maintenance techniques for the new system as

prescribed by the researcher so that the system can render the expected service for

which as develop.
 REFERENCES

Aviel el al (2002). An illustrated history of voting methods and systems.

Babatunde (2014): University of illorin, Kwara state Nigeria "Technical committee

recommendations". [Link] .ss. c ~[Link] v /exec uti ve/ivote/

Bozinnis, and Lakovou (2005): "Georgia's Unique Model for Election Reform,"

[Link], Nov. 1, 2005 Christopher Drew (2007): U.S. Bars Lab from

Testing Electronic Voting," New York Times”, Jan. 4, 2007.

Data-monitor, Storer and Duncan (2004). US public opinion toward voting technologies.

InfoSENTRY Services.

Ekpoma (2016): "Voting For the New MillenniJm: An Implementati on of! E-Voting".

[Link] stet~on .edu/artsci/mathcs/st uclents/research/cs/cs498/2003/chrisH/p

[Link] (20b3)

Garlach, songini and seligson (2007). Playing Marbles: The Gambia's Electoral System.

Harvard International Review, 28(4), 6.

Johnson and Sarah et al "Diebold Voting Machines Can Be Hacked By Remote Control,"

[Link] Brennan (2010): Brennan Center for Justice at New York University

School of Law "Voting System Failures: A Database Solution," Sep. 13, 2010

Kalaichelvi et al. (2005). E-voting in Estonia 2005. The first practice of country-wide

binding Internet voting in the world. Electronic voting, 86.

King Onunwor, Rivers state University, Port-Harcourt Rivers state Nigeria. (2017): Voting

Technology Project Voting: What Is and What Could Be, July2018

Kitlan and Joseph, Blanatnager, Sampigethaya, cetinkoya nd karlof et al. (December,

2013), Effectiveness of mobile voting as a supplementary method to ballot casting:

Case of Bindura University of Science Education, IJETTS, Vol. 2, 6.

 APPENDIX A

FLOWCHART AND ALGORITHM

ALGORITHM

10 START
20 REGISTER NEW VOTER
30 DISPLAY VOTING INTERFACE
40 CAST VOTES
50 DISPLAY RESULTS
60 END

FLOWCHART

START

REGISTER NEW VOTER

CAST VOTES

DISPLAY RESULTS VOTER

END
 APPENDIX B

SOURCE CODES

1. [Link]
<?php
include('[Link]');
session_start();

?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"[Link]
<html xmlns="[Link]
<head>

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

<meta name="keywords" content="WOW Slider, Thumbnail Slider, Carousel
Javascript" />
<meta name="description" content="WOWSlider created with WOW Slider, a free
wizard program that helps you easily generate beautiful web slideshow" />
<!-- Start [Link] HEAD section -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="engine1/[Link]" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="engine1/[Link]"></script>

<title>Electronic Voting System</title>

</head>
<body text="#FFFFFF" style="background-color:#006">
<div id="subbar">
<div align="center">
<p><strong>ONLINE VOTING SYSTEM, A PROJECT DESIGNED BY SAMUEL
KER,FOR THE AWARD OF ND IN COMPUTER SCIENCE</strong></p>
<p><strong>MAURID POLYTECHNIC,MBIASO</strong></p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="content">
<center>
<?php
if(isset($_SESSION['FAILED'])){
echo '<div style="background-color:#ffebe8; border:1px solid #dd3c10; padding:5px;
color:#000; border-radius: 0px; font-family:tahoma; font-size:12px;">';
echo $_SESSION['FAILED'];
unset($_SESSION['FAILED']);
echo '</div>';
}?>

<p align="right"><a href="admin_log.php"><font color="black">Admin

Login</font></a></p>
<p align="right"><a href="[Link]"><font color="black">Results</font></a></p>
<form name="frn_login" action="<?php $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>"
method="post">
 <table border="1" align="center" rules="groups" width="400"
bgcolor="YELLOW">
<tr bgcolor="#000000">
<th colspan="2" style="color:#CCCCCC">Login Form</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><?php echo $_SESSION['msg'];?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b><u>R</u></b>ollNo</td>
<td><input type="text" name="email" id="email" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b><u>P</u></b>assword</td>
<td><input type="password" name="psw" id="psw" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center"><p>Not Registered yet?<a
href="[Link]"><font color="green">Register Now!!!</font></a></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="right"><input type="submit"
name="SUBMIT" value="Login" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<br>
<font style='font-family:Arial' size='2' color='red' > <b>&nbsp<ul><li>Forget
Password and</li><li> Activate Your Account </li><li> So ........Please Contact
 APPENDIX C

GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE

1. Index page

[Link] Registration Page

[Link] Page

4. Election Result Page

6. Admin Panel Page