DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM WITH FINGERPRINT AUTHENTICATION

Statement of the problem

With advances in information and communication technology, issue of security has gone far beyond ordinary password usage. This project sought to describe the design and implementation of a fingerprint based electronic voting system, as an improved solution to the existing voting system in Federal University of Technology Minna. The existing system is however subjected to possible loss of password, printing of more than one password for a single voter, and unguaranteed voter's presence at the point and time of election. Furthermore, the existing system is used for Student Union Government (SUG) election, while manual voting system of ballot paper and ballot box is used for faculty and departmental elections.

1.3       Aim and Objectives of the Study

This project aimed at the development of a windows application for the design and implementation of an electronic voting system, with an embedded fingerprint, for user's authentication to the system.

The following are the objectives of this study:

1.      To study the existing voting method use for election in the school.

2.      To design a robust and secured system of voting using fingerprint biometric recognition

3.      To implement electronic voting system in major forms of student election (SUG, Faculty and Departmental) in the university.

1.4.1         Significance of the Study

The significance of this project are to improve confidentiality, integrity and voter's identification in voting process, to reduce the time and stress of conducting manual election (Faculty and Departmental elections), and to provide equal level of security at SUG, Faculty, and Departmental election

1.5       Scope of the Study

This project is purposely designed for student election in Federal University of technology, Minna, to overcome the problem of illegal activities during election, by making sure only eligible voters have access to the system, immediately outputting the results of the election, and ensuring that voters have trust in the process of election. However, this system can be extended to other electoral system with little or no modifications.

1.6       Limitations of the Study

Despite all the significance of this project, it is also subjected to some limitations, which includes the fact that it's a desktop application, it cannot be used for other election except campus election, and only a fingerprint reader from Digitalpersona Inc. can be used for the enrollment and verification of user to the system.