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.

The University of Ibadan, one of the 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 is 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 as 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 University 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 University. 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 the government to achieve the following;

(a) Conduct free and fair election.

(b)Safeguard data and information in the system.

(c) The reduced workload in the process of conducting an election.

(d)Keep the 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 an 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 the election.

1.8   Limitations of the 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. The time factor was also the greatest barrier to the successful completion of this exercise since it had to be done within the semester.

1.9   Definition of Terms

Online Voting System: Also known as e-voting is a term encompassing several different types of voting embracing both electronic means of counting votes. Electronic voting technology 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.