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JIMMA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

JIMMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNLOGY

SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

ON

Designing and Implementation of Electronic Voting Machine for Ethiopia

BY

PI: ARUN RADHAKRISHNAN (Asst. Prof.)

Co-PI: MELAKU MATEWOS (M.Sc.)

Sep, 2015

Jimma, Ethiopia

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Table of Contents Title page

Executive summery ..................................................................................................................... 3

CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Background ................................................................................................................... 4

1.2 Statement of the problems .............................................................................................. 4

1.3 Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 4

1.3.1 General objective ..................................................................................................... 4

1.3.2 Specific objectives ................................................................................................... 5

1.4 Significance...........................................................................................................................5

CHAPTER TWO

2. Brief understanding........................................................................................................... 6

2.1 Existing system.................................................................................................................6

2.2 Proposed System...............................................................................................................7

2.3 Working Principle.............................................................................................................9

2.4 Expected result................................................................................................................10

CHAPTER THREE

3.Work plan and cost breakdown..............................................................................................11

3.1 Work plan.........................................................................................................................11

3.2 Research budget...............................................................................................................12

References ............................................................................................................................... 14

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Executive summary

Voting is the most vital process of democratic country like Ethiopia, through which people can

determine their decision. In all elections which have been conducted earlier in Ethiopia, a voter

cast’s his/her vote to a candidate by putting a mark in the ballot paper against the name of the

candidate, then folds the ballot paper, puts it in the ballot box and finally counting the polled

votes. This process consumes long time, consumes more resources, very much prone to errors

and can be concluded that this method is not fast and accurate. To avoid the above drawback of

voting process in Ethiopia, a new method is proposed using electronic means i.e Electronic

Voting machine (EVM). EVM is an electronic device used to record votes automatically without

the need of manual operation to avoid ballot paper, ballot box, stamps and people to process the

voting.

The EVM consists of two units namely control unit and ballot unit and both are wired. Ballot

unit is used to cast the votes by the voter and control unit is used to control the voting

mechanism by the polling officer. The main advantages of this new system are easy to carry and

maintain. The new system consumes very less time for the voters to poll their votes, it does not

use large amount of resources such as papers and the counting system is more accurate when

compared to the old system. In this new system the results can be identified within one day itself.

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Chapter One

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

In Ethiopia every citizen who is above the age of 18 years irrespective of his/her religion, region,

caste, creed, color, economic status, education and sex have right to vote and elect her/his

candidate. So, Voting is the backbone of democracy. Voting can be done in various ways. In

early Roman Empire voting used to be done by raising hands in favor or against. In board rooms

voting is done in similar way, some write their vote down, some choose to speak. In Ethiopia the

general elections has been conducted in the month of May and the final results has been declared

at the end of June only. Also during this election the opposition party claimed that some of the

ballot boxes have been filled in by the ballot papers before starting of the elections itself. And

even the international observers also indicated that some of the polling officers failed to show the

empty ballot boxes to the public before starting of the elections. The time it took to conduct the

elections and the problems which have been observed during the election is the main motivation

behind this research work.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Voting by EVMs is simpler compared to the conventional system, where one has to put the

voting mark on or near the symbol of the candidate of his/her choice, and fold it first vertically

and then horizontally and thereafter put it into the ballot box, but in EVMs, the voter has to

simply press the switch against the candidate and symbol of his choice and the vote is recorded.

Rural and illiterate people had no difficulty in recording their votes in EVM’s.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1General objective

The main objective of this research is to Design and Implement Electronic Voting Machine for

Ethiopia.

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1.3.2 Specific objectives

To design a device which helps to conduct a transparent and efficient election.

To reduce the amount of resources consumed to conduct elections.

To introduce modern, faster and reliable election process in Ethiopia.

1.4 Significance of the study

The best thing or contribution of this study is 1.Introducing new technology for Ethiopia, 2.

Supports fast and reliable election, 3. Reducing human resources, 4. Reducing material resources.

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Chapter Two

2. Brief understanding

2.1 Existing system

The existing system which is in practice uses ballot paper and ballot box. In this process first the

election commission announces the date of election and then prepares the list of candidates those

who are competing in a particular place or constituency. Then the list which contains the list of

candidates along with their party name and symbol will be printed and number should be higher

that the number of voters in that particular area. Then these papers will be transported to that

particular area along with other resources such as ballot box, stamps. The process which will be

followed in polling booth is explained as follows.

The voter arrives to the polling booth and shows his identity card to the polling officer.

The polling officer checks whether the voters name is present in the list of voters. If the

voter name is there then the polling officer will issue the ballot paper to the voter.

The voter enters the secret area where the stamp is placed, then the voter puts the stamp

against the name of the candidate to whom he is willing to cast his vote.

Then the voter folds the ballot paper in the prescribed way and then drops into the ballot

box and leaves the place.

After completing the voting in that particular area, the polling officer takes all the ballot boxes

which have been collected during the voting process and hand over to the election commission.

During the counting process the commission opens the ballot boxes and counts the number of

votes polled for each candidates. The candidate with highest number of votes will be declared as

winner for that particular area.

2.1.1 Advantages

The most important advantage of EVM is it prevents the printing of millions of ballot

papers. Instead it uses only one ballot paper which is going to be fixed on the top of

ballot unit. In conventional system one ballot paper is used for each individual voter

which results in huge savings by way of cost of paper, printing, transportation, storage

and distribution.

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Counting is very quick and the result can be declared within 2 to 3 hours whereas in

conventional system it takes days to count.

There are no invalid votes in EVMs. In every Election, the number of invalid votes is

increasing.

Pace of the polling process is fastened by the use of EVM’s. Since it is not necessary for

each and every voter to mark his preference, fold it and to put it into the ballot box. In

EVM the voter has to simply press the button near the candidate and symbol of his/her

choice.

More economical

Less manpower required

Time conscious, as less time required for voting and counting

Saves transportation cost due to its compact size

Convenient on the part of voter.

2.1.2 Drawbacks

Some of the votes which are not clearly stamped, stamped for two candidates or stamped

between two candidates will automatically becomes invalid votes which will not be

counted.

For casting vote little time will be consumed for every voter. If more number of voters is

there then this process becomes very tedious.

During counting time of vote’s large amount of manpower is required to take all those

papers and count for different number of candidates. And also during counting errors may

occur due to human mistakes which lead to big confusion .

Large amount of resources such as papers will be wasted in this process.

It is time consuming process.

2.2 Proposed System

In the proposed system, an electronic device will be implemented to conduct the voting process.

The device consists of two units namely control unit and ballot unit which are connected by

wires. Control unit is used to control the whole mechanism whereas the ballot unit is used to cast

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the votes. Control unit will be kept with the polling officer and the ballot unit will be kept in the

secret place.

Fig. General Block diagram

2.2.1 Ballot Unit

The ballot unit consists of switches and LED’s for each candidate and also a buzzer. The names

of the candidates and their voting symbol will be pasted parallel with each switch which will

enable the voter to cast his vote easily. The voter has to press the switch which is in parallel with

the name of the candidate to whom he wants to cast his vote. Then the LED glows and the buzzer

produces a sound which denotes that his vote has been casted successfully. Even the photos of

each candidate along with their name and symbol can be added which makes the process simpler.

And also the ballot unit consists of a buzzer which sounds when each voter casts his votes.

Fig. Block Diagram of Electronic Voting Machine

2.2.2 Control Unit

Mode selection switch:-The machine will operate in two different modes namely, voting mode

and counting mode. In voting mode the machine will store all the votes that are casted by the

voters. Counting mode is used to count the count the votes that are casted.

Control unit

Ballot unit

Microcontroller

Authority

Switch

Switches for

candidates with

LED

Buzzer

Mode selection

switch

Clear vote

switch

LCD

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Authority switch:-This switch is used to control the voting process. When the polling officer

presses this button then only the voter can able to cast (press the button) the vote. The voter can

able to press the voting switch only one time. Even when the voter presses the switch for the

second time also the machine will not store the second vote. The polling officer has to press the

authority switch again to enable the candidate switch. Then only the voter can able cast his vote.

Clear vote switch:- This switch is used to clear the stored votes after counting is done.

LCD:- LCD is used to display the status. After each vote it will display that “the vote is casted”

when the machine is operating in voting mode. In counting mode it is used to display the result.

2.3 Working Principle

The machine is powered ON and the power led glows.

Select the mode of operation. “Counting mode” or “voting mode”.

o Voting Mode: When toggle switch is in voting mode “Voting mode” is displayed

followed by “Ready to vote”. After a vote being given, “Vote casted successfully”

is displayed.

o Counting Mode: When toggle switch is in counting mode “Counting mode” is

displayed on the LCD, and total number of votes to respective candidate will be

displayed on the screen.

The voter arrives to the polling booth and shows his identity card to the polling officer.

The polling officer checks whether the voters name is present in the list of voters. The

voter will be allowed to enter into polling compartment where the ballot unit is kept. And

also the polling officer presses the authority switch to enable the voter to cast his vote.

On the Ballot Unit, the voter has to press the button which is placed in front his/her

favorite candidate and then release it.

When the button is pressed, the LED indicator also lights up and a sound will be

generated by the buzzer. This shows the voter that his/her vote has been casted.

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Is it possible for a voter to press the same button for many numbers of times?

When a button is pressed, the LED present near the button glows and a sound occurs. Then the

system is more or less disabled. Even if the voter presses the button again, the EVM won’t

register those votes. It is only when the polling officer presses the authority switch on the control

unit upon arrival of the next voter, then the machine gets reactivated. EVM’s ensures the

principle of “one man, one vote”.

What happens when more than one button is pressed simultaneously?

Sometimes it happens, in this case the LED will not glow and there will not be any beep. This

ensures that the voting has not been done and the voter has to press the button again.

2.4 Expected result

An Electronic voting machine will help the election commission to conduct the elections in a

transparent and efficient way which also reduces the quantity of resources used to conduct paper

based elections. Accuracy levels will be very high if an electronic voting machine is used. This

device is not only useful for conducting national wide elections but also it will be helpful to

conduct university student elections and to get opinion in an official meeting where the results

have to be known immediately.

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Chapter Three

3. Work plan and Cost breakdown

3.1 Work plan

Table 3.1 work plan

Components of thesis work

Jan

uary

Feb

ruary

Marc

h

Ap

ril

May

Ju

ne

1. Literature review

2. Data collection

a. Primary data

b. secondary data

3. Data analysis

4. Designing the system

5. Optimizing the design

6. Report Preparation

7. Report Compilation

8. paper submission

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3. 2 Cost breakdown

Table 3.2 cost breakdown

S.N. Number of cost items Unit Quantity Unit Price

(birr)

Total Price

(birr)

1. Stationary

1.1 Printing paper Num 2 130 260

1.2 Photo copy paper Num 2 130 260

1.3 Hard disk Num 1 2000 2000

1.4 Exercise book, pen and other 500

1.5 communication 2000

Sub-Total 5,020

2. Transportation

2.1 Taxi at A.A and Nazrate _ _ _ 4000

2.2 Transportation to Addis Ababa Trips 2*2*2 224 1792

2.3 Transportation to regional state Trips 2*2*2 274 2192

2.4 Taxi for data collector 4000

Sub-Total 11,984

3. Per diem

3.1 Per diem for data processor/Analysis Days 10*4 124 4960

3.2 Per diem for researchers (A.A) Days 15*2 206 6180

3.3 Per diem for data collector (A.A) Days 10*2 171 3420

3.4 Per diem for researchers during data survey Days 10*2 171 3420

3.5 Per diem for translator at regional state Days 10*2 124 2480

Sub-total 20,460

4. Material cost

4.1 PIC microcontroller16F877A Num 5 1500 7500

4.2 PIC programmer (USB type) Num 2 5000 10,000

4.3 PIC development boards Num 2 600 1200

4.4 Step down transformer 230/12V Num 2 1500 3000

4.5 Bridge Rectifier IC W06M Num 2 500 1000

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4.6 Resistors

(1KΩ,10KΩ,47KΩ,100KΩ,330KΩ)

Num Each 5 10 250

4.7 Capacitors (22pf,0.1µf,10µf,470µf) Each 5 12 240

4.8 Voltage regulator LM7805 2 300 600

4.9 LED’s (Red, Green and Blue) Each 10 20 600

4.10 Liquid Crystal Display 16X2 2 300 600

4.11 Buzzer 2 100 200

4.12 Switches 20 20 400

4.13 Wires 500 500

4.14 Mikro C pro version 1 10,000 10,000

4.15 Bread boards 5 200 1000

Sub-total 74,554 37,090

Contingency 10% 7455.4

Grand total 82,009.4

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References:

1. “A Preview on Microcontroller Based Electronic Voting Machine” by Diponkar Paul and

Sobuj Kumar Ray published in International Journal of Information and Electronics

Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2013 pp 185-190.

2. “A Simplified Electronic Voting Machine System” by Md. Murshadul Hoque published

in “International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology” Vol.62, 2014, pp.97-102

3. “ELECTRONC VOTING MACHINE” by Pooja Nagle and Neha Agarwal, Available at

https://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/uma/~wel/wel45/public_html/edl10s/voting.pdf

4. http://www.bgr.in/news/how-does-an-electronic-voting-machine-evm-work/

5. http://www.gizmodo.in/indiamodo/This-Is-How-An-EVM-

Works/articleshow/33746573.cms