Design and Implementation of Biometric Online Voting System Using Fingerprint Technology (A Case Study of SUG Election)
Chapter One
PURPOSE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The main aim of this project work is to design online voting software that among others be able to achieve the following targets;
- Each voter will be able to vote only once with the help of a fingerprint recognition
- Nobody will have access to the votes before the official opening of the electronic ballot box.
- The votes cast cannot be intercepted, modified, or diverted.
- The online site will resist any attack
- Only registered voters will have access to the application
- Voters will be protected against any attempt of identified theft.
- The secrecy of the vote will be guaranteed
- Rigging of the election will be controlled
- The system will not accept votes outside the voting period
- It shall put to an end the indiscriminate alteration of election results by officers of the electoral committees in SUG elections.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Jinadu (1991) in his opinion said that there is a critical need for an honest competent and non-partisan administrator to run elections. This is to support the basic conditions for the conduct of free and fair elections as the report of the electoral bureau stipulated (1987). Yet there was hardly an election that was conducted in this state that has been rig free. This question is “what is the nature of these malpractices: A lot of materials have been published concerning this issue. A Professor of Political Science Department University of Nigeria Nsukka Professor Nnoli (1990) addressed the major problems of the electoral process.
According to him, these problems include:
Electoral malpractice
Electoral violence
Inadequate security for the electorate
From the malpractice talked about the question now is “how will the conduct of future election are improved?”
According to Clernay Andre M. McGeorge School of Law on their Analysis of Internet voting proposal, said that several states have already attempted using Internet voting systems for their state or local elections, which is rig free. The trials were done in a small scale setting.
On March 7, 2000 Arizona held the first Democratic Presidential Primary via the Internet. This was first legally binding election held over the Internet. In the end 39,942 of the total 86,907 votes were cast through the Internet. To vote on-line, the individual had to be registered as a Democrat and a letter will be mailed to the registered democrats which included a personal identification number.
According to California has implemented a task force to look into the possibility of on-line elections. They are the first state to develop a commission to research Internet voting. The conclusion and solution was at these four stages, one is; utilize poll sit voting with an Internet voting machine. Two is; voters would be allowed to vote at any polling location within their country. Three allows for an individual to request an Internet ballot and then vote from any Internet accessible location throughout the state. The voter would receive a password and be required to use a digital signature. Four allows for the voters to vote via the web at any location in the world. This plan is yet to be implemented in full force, but California, is ahead of many states in the question for on-line voting system.
According to Alaska conducted a Republican straw poll in three territories. Individuals voted using home pc’s or Net-enabled pcs at polling stations. Each voter had exclusive digital signature. The election was held through votehere.com web site. The election ran efficiently. However, it is doubtful Alaska will be using Internet voting for the upcoming election.
According to Iowa State University has even held an election on-line. In February of 2001 the University’s government of the student body elections was held on-line. Students were required to use their university identification number as well as a pin number to fain access to vote. The election ran smoothly.
The MIT/Caltech researchers “see a promising future for electronic voting despite its problems today”. They advocate using the methods currently in use which results in the lowest average numbers of “uncounted unmarked and spoiled ballot” like in precinet optical scanning. Their report even proposed a frame work for a new voting system with a decentralized modular design.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODS FOR FACT FINDING AND DETAILED DISCUSSIONS OF THE SYSTEM
FACT FINDING METHOD USED
This is the most important part of any analysis. Indeed much of analysis is concerned with what fact to find, how to find them and how to record them for the purpose which it is collected for. The researcher had witnessed various tertiary institutions SUG elections in order to obtain detailed and comprehensive information about voting and SUG elections.
The methods used to gather data and necessary information included the following;
INTERVIEW METHOD: During the visits, the researcher interviewed IMT legal head personnel Mr. Olaruwa Chukwu. To obtain permission for the interview from the chairman of the commission, a letter from the Head of Department of computer Science (I.M.T.) was demanded. The researcher brought the letter and finally got go ahead order to interview the person in charge. After that the researcher had a wide knowledge about voting.
CHAPTER FOUR
FUTURES, IMPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES OF THE SYSTEM
FUTURES
The new system is fully an on-line voting system. In the new system all information about a voter is fed into the computer system and stored during registration.
CHAPTER FIVE
RECOMMENDATIONS, SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATIONS
Having examined the usefulness of the web (World Wide Web – www) in eliminating most of the hindrances to efficient voting/electoral process at SUG elections.
Therefore it is recommended that the electoral and voting services together with election result processing be on-line.
Though the system will be costly especially in terms of staff training and equipment but I strongly believe that these costs will be offset if the new system is properly implemented based on the further improvement and working towards 100% taking into consideration the peculiar features of the Internet which is a valuable tool and the long-term benefits of the World Wide Web.
In adopting an efficient election/voting process, the following should be into consideration:
- Staff should be educated and well trained.
- The electoral commission should make a way for the acquisition of the necessary hardware.
- Software should be checked for accuracy and should also be protected from damage and viruses.
- Security measure should be applied on the websites and to its other web-pages and equipment.
- The provision of dependable on-line interactive processing system which will offer the user much access facility to the database.
SUMMARY
Other reports on electronic voting released over the past year have also concluded that more research is needed before internet voting can be secure. Among the key issues are the difficulty of securing personal computers against viruses and the vulnerability of the internet to denial of service attacks. There is also a need for better audit and test procedures to ensure that machine or internet voting accurately records each ballot. Most recently a US National Science Foundation sponsored workshop report concluded, that Remote Internet voting systems pose significant risk to the integrity of the voting process, and should not be fielded for use in public elections until substantial technical and social science issues are addressed.
CONCLUSION
Election is the only means of upholding sound democracy and ensuring stability in the political system of any state even when it affects only students. In the study, I analyzed the political nature of voting system in SUG elections, appraised its short comings and proposed a design of on-line voting system to prevent rigging of any electoral officer or incumbent government.
Moreover it rejects multiple voting by any single voter irrespective of the different polling site he/she might use.
Therefore Internet is a new and complicated addition to our society, because it is fresh and there are many obscurities and rules governing the web. The web has provided us with numerous services which have developed within a few years. Voting on the Internet is one more service that can be provided on-line. There is no doubt that the student voting processes should be updated and made electronic.
However, if this work is implemented it will go a long way in eradicating ravaged socio-political structure which has been the Bane of peace unity stability and prosperity in SUG elections. All illegal means of acquiring more votes to favour a particular party or candidate would be a thing of the past.
REFERENCE
- International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER) www.ijmer.com
- Adeoy, A (1981). The Nigerian press and the 1979 General Election Macmillan Press.
- Adler, Jim (2000). “On-line voting premier” Votehere.net.
- Billy, d. (1982). An Introduction to Nigerian Government and Politics Macmillan Press London.
- Chernay,Andre M. (2001) “Analysis of Internet Voting Proposals” MeGeorge School of Law.
- Dictson, Derek and Dan, Ray (2000). “The Internet Voting Portal, Securepoll.com.
- Iowa State University; Government of student body. www.gsb.lastate.edu.
- Kantor Jodi (1999) “Internet Voting.CNN.com.
- Roberts, Nancy (2000). “The Next frontier on-line voting SANS Institute.
- Schum, Richard M. (2000). “Internet Voting” Its Perils and Promises democracy online.org
- The State of California (2001). www.ss.ca.gov
- Voteher.net Inc (2000). The Evolution of Internet Voting.
