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.
University
of Ibadan, one of best and oldest universities in Nigeria needs a computerized management
of student union elections due to the shortcomings in the ‘human clerk
‘electioneering system. 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 university 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 human clerk system.
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
The
traditional human clerk mechanisms employed in the management of electioneering
procedures at the university were not foolproof and were prone to
inconsistencies, election malpractices and untimely delivery of results leading
to questions at to the credibility and validity of the results the returning
officer announces. Much expense was in incurred in the production,
transportation, storage and destruction of the ballot papers and ballot boxes
1.3 Objectives
of the Study
The aim of this
project is to develop a database for voters’ in various departments of the
Univeristy which will in turn help the electioneering committee of the Student
Union Government to conduct a free and fair election using electronic machines.
To replace the current inefficient manual system of voting in the Univerisyt.
To ensure credibility in elections by preventing double voting, this system
will also help the student union government reduce the huge costs incurred in
conducting elections.
1.6 Significance of the Study
In view of the rapid
development of computer technology in virtually all fields of operation and its
use in relation to information management, it has become important to look into
the development of electronic voters registration system to enable government
to achieve the following;
(a) Conduct free and fair election.
(b)Safeguard data and
information in the system.
(c) Reduced workload
in the process of conducting election.
(d)Keep accurate
record of votes.
(e)Reduce time wasted
in announcing election result.
(f) Eliminate
disenfranchising electorates.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The research work is
designed to enable Electoral Commission of the Student Union Government of the
University of Ibada to use electronic device to capture voters’ information.
The design will cover some security issues like authenticating the nationality
of the voters through integrating the national ID database to the voters’
registration process and also capturing the picture of the electorates for
validation during election.
1.8 Limitations of study
During the design of
this project work, much finance was required and owing to the financial
meltdown globally, the research was limited by finance and hence concentrated
on the available materials within the locality. Time
factor was also the greatest barrier to the successful completion of this
exercise since it had tobe done within the semester.
1.9 Definition
of Terms
Online
Voting System: Also
known as e-voting is a term encompassing severaldifferent types of voting
embracing both electronic means of counting votes. Electronic votingtechnology
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.