Design And Construction Of A Fingerprint Based Voting System

Electrical Electronics Engineering | Industrial Physics | Physics

The design and construction of a fingerprint-based voting system represent a pioneering approach to modernizing electoral processes. This innovative system leverages biometric technology, specifically fingerprints, to ensure the accuracy and security of the voting procedure. By integrating advanced fingerprint recognition algorithms, the system enhances voter authentication, mitigating concerns related to identity fraud and unauthorized voting. Moreover, the incorporation of this biometric element adds an extra layer of reliability to the electoral process, fostering trust among citizens in the integrity of the voting system. The implementation of such a technological solution not only streamlines the voting process but also addresses challenges associated with traditional methods, such as duplicate voting and impersonation. This paradigm shift towards a biometrically authenticated voting system marks a significant stride in the evolution of electoral practices, emphasizing the importance of secure, efficient, and technologically-driven democratic processes.

The heart of democracy is voting. The heart of voting is trust that each vote is recorded and tallied with accuracy and impartiality. The accuracy and impartiality are tallied in high rate with biometric system. Among these biometric signs, fingerprint has been researched the longest period of time, and shows the most promising future in real-world applications. Because of their uniqueness and consistency over time, fingerprints have been used for identification over time. However, because of the complex distortions among the different impression of the same finger in real life, fingerprint recognition is still a challenging problem.

Fingerprint Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is a simple electronic device used to record votes in place of ballot papers and boxes which were used earlier in conventional voting system. Fundamental right to vote or simply voting in elections forms the basis of democracy. All earlier elections be it state elections or centre elections a voter used to cast his/her favorite candidate by putting the stamp against his/her name and then folding the ballot paper as per a prescribed method before putting it in the Ballot Box. This is a long, time-consuming process and very much prone to errors. This situation continued till election scene was completely changed by electronic voting machine. No more ballot paper, ballot boxes, stamping, etc. all this condensed into a simple box called ballot unit of the electronic voting machine. Because biometric identifiers cannot be easily misplaced, forged, or shared, they are considered more reliable for person recognition than traditional token or knowledge based methods. So the Electronic voting system has to be improved based on the current technologies viz., biometric system.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWELDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

AIM OF THE PROJECT
OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
ADVANTAGES OF THE PROJECT
PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT
LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT
SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
PROBLEM OF THE PROJECT
PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

REVIEW OF FINGERPRINT VOTING MACHINE
REVIEW OF FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION
DESCRIPTION OF A VOTING MACHINE
EARLY HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF A VOTING MACHINE
VOTE-RECORDING TECHNOLOGIES

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY

3.1 BASIC OF THE SYSTEM

3.2 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE SYSTEM

3.3 SYSTEM OPERATION

3.4 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

3.5 HARDWARE REQUIREMENT

3.6 SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT

3.5 WORKING PRINCIPLE

3.6 CIRCUIT OPERATION

3.7 DESCRIPTION OF COMPONENTS USED

3.7 POWER SUPPLY UNIT

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 TESTING AND RESULTS

ECONOMIC OF THE PROJECT
PROJECT VIABILITY
PROJECT RELIABILITY
PROJECT MAINTAINABILITY
PROJECT EVALUATION
PROBLEMS FACED AND MODIFICATIONS
FUTURE MODIFICATIONS

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATION
REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Voting machines are the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment (including software, firmware, and documentation required to program control, and support equipment), that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information. The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use electronic voting machines.

A voting system includes the practices and associated documentation used to identify system components and versions of such components; to test the system during its development and maintenance; to maintain records of system errors or defects; to determine specific changes made after initial certification; and to make available any materials to the voter (such as notices, instructions, forms, or paper ballots).

Traditionally, a voting machine has been defined by the mechanism the system uses to cast votes and further categorized by the location where the system tabulates the votes.

Voting machines have different levels of usability, security, efficiency and accuracy. Certain systems may be more or less accessible to all voters, or not accessible to those voters with certain types of disabilities. They can also have an effect on the public’s ability to oversee elections.

Electronic voting systems may offer advantages compared to other voting techniques. An electronic voting system can be involved in any one of a number of steps in the setup, distributing, voting, collecting, and counting of ballots, and thus may or may not introduce advantages into any of these steps.

Moreover it is also important that a false entry should not be made so for this one of the most secure methods for voting is using a biometric sensor like a fingerprint reader.

Fingerprints are one of many forms of biometrics used to identify individuals and verify their identity. Fingerprint recognition or fingerprint authentication refers to the automated method of verifying a match between two human fingerprints. in this project we will be using a fingerprint reader for providing access to the voter as well as making a log if the person has voted or not.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Voting theory formally began in the 18th century and ever since, many proposal has been made towards using electronic technologies to improve elections (Sobia, Ummer, Ayesha, Usman, and Hassan, 2011). One of the essential features of democracy is Election, democracy encourages individual’s freedom with respect to the rule of law, so that individuals can express their opinion the way they wish, giving individuals the opportunity to decide their leaders, and uninhibitedly express their feelings on issues. Because of the All-inclusive Affirmation of Human Rights in the year 1948 that puts import on compelling circumstance of free elections, countries focused on an improved and new voting process that are of significance to the election processes in the 21st century (Salomonsen, 2005).

Election is the process that enables individuals to choose their delegates and express their fellings on the way they will be administered (Kohno, Rubin, Stubblefield & Wallach, 2003), (Malkawi, Khasawneh & Al-Jarrah, 2009) and (Ashok & Ummal, 2011).

Nigerian election process has been done manually (voting for local and general elections done by electors with ballot papers and ballot boxes in which the papers are placed) since returned to democratic rule in the year 1999, the manual voting process was associated with a lot of problems and always resulted to post-election violence (Yekini, Oyeyinka, Oludipe & Lawal, 2012).

In Federal University of Technology, Minna, voting system is of two main categories, Manual Voting System (MVS) and Electronic Voting System (EVS).

The Manual Voting System (MVS) involves presenting eligible student with a list of contestants on a paper called ballot paper, to mark against their favorite contestants and place the ballot paper in a box called ballot box, this system of voting is used for Faculty and Department election processes in the University. Manual voting system has some disadvantages, which include possibility of placing the ballot paper in the wrong ballot box, votes counting problem, loss of time when there happens to be some objections, paper printing and expenditures done for personnel, for these reasons, it is necessary to use the new technologies to make the election system faster, economic and trustable because the trust that every vote will be tallied and recorded correctly is the foundation of a genuine democracy (Ademand & Metin, 2011).

The Electronic Voting System (EVS) involves presenting eligible student with a list of contestants on a computer, to select against their favorite contestants, this system of voting is used for Student Union Government (SUG) election in the University. The improvement of information and communications technologies has allow for a completely computerised election process whereby counting of vote are carried out in real time, that the results are automatically out by the end of elections day (Rubin, 2002).

1.2 ADVANTAGES OF THE PROJECT

· Prevents unauthorized use or access.

• Adds a higher level of security to an identification process

• Eliminates the burden and bulk of carrying id cards or remembering pins.

• Heightens overall confidence of business processes dependent on personal identification.