Design and Implementation of a Secure i-Voting System
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There is concern ih many democracies about the declining rates in voter's turnout and more
generally, the (perceived) t~end towards political apathy. The reason is attributed to lack of trust in the
political/democratic proces.( One of the measures considered to encourage participation in the polity is to
simplify the election procedure by introducing electronic voting, and in particular, Internet voting. It is
expected that this will incrhase voter's convenience and voter's confidence in the accuracy of election
results. Internet voting mett1zs the casting of a secure and secret electronic ballot that is transmitted to
electoral officials using th'e Internet. Internet voting is a new way of implementing democracy and
eliminating some of the .fallp.cies of paper ballot voting.
This paper propose~ the development (~fa dynamic online voter registration system; provides a
robust /-voting architectw'e; and designs and implements a secure Internet voting system based on
Biometric features using filzge1print authentication mechanism. The system runs on platforms such as
the personal computers, Op'eni:ting Systems (UNIX, and Windows XP), and Browsers (Microsoft Internet
Explorer, etc.). The ballots \vere formatted using HTML and ]avaScript, and audio sound integrated into
it with the use of SWiSH max software. The server side is a java/Php application that provides access to
MySQL database rzuzning dn an Apache web server.
Security is incorpoiated into the system with the use of the N- Tier architecture inc01porating the
Demilitarized Zone [DMZ). The system offers enhanced speed and efficiency, and it eliminates the
"grey" area of voting, lwnian (!rror and bias. Further, it will allow for a broader spectrum ~f voters to
exercise their rights anywh~re there is Internet access and at the voters' convenience.
Furthermore, the system offered bimodal authentication mechanisms through the use of
fingerprint and password, 'which helped a great deal to prevent multiple registrations l~{ voters. It also
helps to increase the confidence of voters in the electoral process. In addition, the interest of the disabled,
particularly, the sight impaired is taking into consideration through the provision of audio sound to aid
them in the process of casting their votes.
Keywords
QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science