ELECTRONIC VOTING AND MANAGEMENT IN 2019 GENERAL ELECTION

Abstract
Voting is a critical component of any election and involves the processes of electing leaders or
representatives into positions of authority in a democratic system of government. In most developing
countries of the world, this process is usually marred with multiple irregularities such as falsification of
results, identity theft, stolen of ballot boxes, multiple voting problems, double voting, over voting, and
electoral fraud just to mention a few. This research aimed at solving these multifaceted problems
associated with manual based voting processes by using agile development and components based
software engineering principles to evolve a usable electronic voting system that can be used to conduct
national election and any other election in the country. This will enhance and guarantee the credibility
of the electoral processes and show a true reflection of the wishes of the people. However, the need for
speed, reusability and adaptability informed the effort to apply Agile and Component based approach
(CBSE) using Visual Studio dot Net and Microsoft SQL Server as our implementation tools. A detailed
requirements analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of the system were carried out to evolve
a usable electronic voting system that can be used to conduct election in Nigeria that will subsequently
lead to increased level of participation by the electorate, drastic cost reduction in organizing election,
voter‟s convenience, and faster release of election results.
Keywords: EVM, i-Voting, M-Voting, e-Voting, K-Voting, e-Government, CBSE, INEC;

1 Introduction

Succeeding governments have channelled substantial resources into various programs to combat the

high rate of poverty and to bridge the gap between economic growth and prosperity of the citizens.

Prominent among them are: National Agricultural and Cooperative Bank (NACB), Operation Feed the

Nation (OFN), Agricultural Development Project (ADP), Directorate of Food, Road and Rural

Infrastructure (DFRRI), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Community Bank or Micro

Finance, National Poverty Eradication Program, (NAPEP) among others (Dugguh, 2014; Ogwumike,

2002). Studies revealed that bad governance, lack of political will, corruption, lack of an apparent

defined policy agenda for poverty alleviation, continuity syndrome, political deception and horrible

looting are major factors that causes poverty in Nigeria (Kanayo, 2014).

Despite all policy measures adopted to address these problems, poverty still prevail in Nigeria

(Abinbola, 2012) Electronic voting (E-Voting) is an electrical system of voting introduced by advanced

countries of the world to improve election processes. Literatures have revealed that as a result of

1
technological advancement coupled with the myriad problems of manual voting, USA, Australia,

Brazil, Canada, India, France, Japan, United Arab Emirates and others have established different

methods of e-voting projects. Namibia was the first African country to adopt the e-voting technology,

followed by South Africa. However, the idea was initially opposed by the opposition parties on the

ground that the policy was aimed at election manipulations (Obradovic, Hoover, Ikonomakis, &

Poulos, 2006).

E-voting allow eligible voters cast their votes and to be counted. It is a procedure that is auditable,

transparent, secured with minimal human error. For large countries like India, Brazil and Philippine,

electronic voting and electronic counting facilitate the release of election results within short period of

time. The system enables voters to elect credible candidate without any unjustifiable influence; defend

the secrecy of their votes at each phase of the voting process; assured accessibility of all voters. Hence,

the electorates build trust and confidence in the electoral institutions (Obradovic et al., 2006). This

study precisely examines the factors that influences the idea of e-voting system from the viewpoint of

INEC, Nigerian citizens and the possibilities of PVC and CR to alleviate poverty in Nigeria. Therefore,

it will serve as a lesson to the incumbent leaders and prospective candidates that they can only be voted

if they rendered satisfactory services to the masses and not their wealth or election manipulations as

experienced in the past. The study also demonstrates the reliability of CR and PVC as an instruments to

determine credible leaders of choice.

In this research work, the shortcomings of manual processes of conducting election were examined

with the aim to proffer solution to evolve a usable electronic voting system that can be used to conduct

election in Nigeria and provide a convenient platform for both Independent National Electoral

Commission (INEC) and the electorate in conducting useful and credible election that will guarantee

the confidence and credibility of the electoral processes and also show the true reflection of the wishes

of the people.The use of electronic voting system in conducting elections in Nigeria will go a long way

2
in addressing a lot of problems plaguing the conduct of elections in the country (Duruji et al., 2015).

The benefits of e-voting system in Nigeria are as follows: firstly, the large sum of financial resources

usually expended for organizing election in the country will be reduced drastically as there would be no

need to print election materials and ballots papers. Secondly, no visible logistics will be involved in the

transportation of election materials; this is because there would not be any election materials to be

transported: ballot boxes and ballot papers are already in electronic forms. Thirdly, time wasted in

queuing for accreditation and voting and as well as disenfranchisement of voters would be eliminated.

This is because voters can stay at the comfort of their homes or offices to cast their votes. However, in

the case of Kiosk e-voting, accreditation and voting will take place at the same time and the procedures

will be faster. Lastly, collation and election results are announced almost immediately the election is

concluded; it does not give any room for electoral fraud.

Now that the agitation is growing stronger in discrediting the use of card reader devices in voters

accreditation processes in Nigeria. The reason is not far-fetched as it arises from the persistent

problems experienced during April 2015 and the re-run elections (Duruji et al., 2015). Using this

proposed system, it will be possible to register citizens of Nigeria as voters for any given election using

the most convenient means possible. The system will provide each voter with a permanent RFID-

enabled voter‟s card (PVC), voter‟s PIN and biometric system for a multimodal/hybrid approach to

accreditation and voting. The administrator and operator modules are separated from the voting module

which the voter will use to cast their votes.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows: section 2 discusses the related works in literature; in

section 3, the methodology engaged are explained; section 4 discusses the implementation of the e-

voting system, system usability evaluation and section 5 conclude the paper.

3
Objectives of the Study

The broad objective of the study is to examine electronic voting and management in 2019 general

election. The specific objectives are to:

i. investigate the devices used to access and test the e-voting software;

ii. examine the skill of participants in the use of computer software; and

iii. evaluate the challenges experienced through the adoption of e-voting in 2019 general

election.

2 Literature Review

Historically, elections in Nigeria were conducted manually since independence. This ranges from

voter‟s registration, ballot papers and voting procedures. Thus, the credibility of free and fair elections

through this processes have been criticized as a result of series of anomalies perfected therein (Ishaq,

Osman, & Jaleelkehinde, 2012). Election fraud is a recurrent and devastating obstacle that bedevil

Nigeria democracy over the years. Incompetent and weak electoral institution, the fair of being probed

for financial misappropriation, poverty on the part of the electorates, party agents, security agents and

thugs are factors accountable for election flaws in Nigeria (Awopeju, 2011). Election fraud led to

frequent review of electoral acts, change of leadership of the commission and anti-corruption measures.

Despite all these actions by preceding governments to ensure credible, free and fair election, the

struggle still remains a mirage.

The administration of democratic elections in Nigeria dates back to the period before Independence

when the Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN) was inaugurated in 1958 to conduct the 1959 federal

elections. Prior to 1958, regional laws and government regulated and conducted elections. ECN was

headed by an expatriate, Ronald Edward Wraith and four Nigerian members representing each region

and the Federal Capital Territory of Lagos. The Federal Electoral Commission (FEC), established in

1960 conducted the immediate post-independence federal and regional elections of 1964 and
4
1965. Prior to the conduct of the 1964 election, the Chief Electoral Officer, Kofo Abayomi resigned

and some party officials from the NCNC and Action Group doubted the credibility of a free and fair

election. The electoral body was dissolved after the military coup of 1966 in Nigeria.[8] In 1978,

the Federal Electoral Commission(FEDECO) was constituted by the regime of General Olusegun

Obasanjo, organizing the elections of 1979 which ushered in the Nigerian Second Republic under the

leadership of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. It also conducted the general elections of 1983.

In December 1995, the military government under the leadership of general Sani Abacha established

the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria which conducted another set of elections. These elected

institutions were not inaugurated before the sudden death of General Abacha in June 1998 aborted the

process. In 1998, General Abdulsalam Abubakar's Administration dissolved National Electoral

Commission of Nigeria (NECON) and established the Independent National Electoral Commission

(INEC). INEC organized the transitional elections that ushered in the Nigerian Fourth Republic on May

29, 1999.

The following related works from relevant literatures were reviewed. In the work of Duruji et al.,

(2015), the authors presented a case for e-voting in Nigeria with strong emphasis that open and secret

ballot was not suitable for conducting election in Nigeria given our political environment. The authors

proposed the use of e-voting for subsequent election in Nigeria which according to the authors will

eliminate all the flaws of open and secret ballot system. Ahmad et al., (2015), in their study on issues

and challenges of transition to e-voting technology in Nigeria, the authors carried out critical appraisal

of challenges of e-voting in other countries of the world and the implementation of e-voting in Nigeria.

Their recommendation to the Nigeria government agencies is to invest more on research and

development to grasp the in-depth of challenges and sustainability of e-voting system.

The research work of Ayo et al., (2008), on e-voting implementation in Nigeria: the success factor;

proposed an implementation of an integrated system that comprises of an Electronic Voting Machine

5
(EVM), the Internet Voting (i-Voting) and the Mobile Voting (m-Voting) for conducting election in the

country to enhance participatory democracy. Similarly, in the work of Musa et al., (2011), on building a

multi-modal trust-based e-voting system. The authors advocate the use of a multimodal authentication

method for the electorate when casting their votes. These methods includes biometric enabled voters

card, finger print authentication and the use of PIN (Personal Identification Number) for voters to avoid

time wastage during voting especially when one of the authentication methods failed, they can easily

switch to another one. Also, Abu-Shanab et al., (2010), in their work, e-Voting System: a tool for e-

democracy argued and stressed the importance of the use of e-voting system in conducting election

across board because of it attendance benefits, convenience and enhancement of integrity of the

election process. They also explore the factors influencing the adoption of e-voting system in a

University environment. Moreover, Yekini et al., (2012), in their work on computer-based automated

voting machine for Elections in Nigeria, proposed the design of an automated voting machine that will

automate the entire election procedures in the future election in Nigeria.

Ajiboye et al., (2013), conducted their research on modeling and evaluation of e-voting system for

sustainable credible election. They proposed a model for evaluating e-voting system by using fuzzy

logic approach. The model developed was simulated and tested with student union election in a Federal

University in Nigeria and obtained a promising outcome. Gerlach (2009), propounded seven design

principles for a secured e-voting system, among which are: proven security, trustworthy design,

published source codes, vote verification, voter accessibility, ensure anonymization and expert

oversight. In the study of Folorunsho et al., (2010), the authors attempted to solve the problem of huge

amount of data that e-voting is confronted with by using a treemap based visualization technique to

monitor in real time the distributed balloting and voting processes. They further established that

treemap algorithm can effectively be used to monitor in real time the voting transactions, hence

enhance transparency. The work of Momodu and Omogbhemhe, (2013), the authors used different

6
Unified Modelling Language (UML) artifacts to model the requirements and implementation of

electronic voting system that can be used to conduct election in Nigeria.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research methodology centered on system requirements gathering, system design, tools for system

implementation and software engineering methodologies engaged. The system requirements were

collated from interviews with the country‟s INEC officers and other stakeholders to understand the

information flows involved in the e-voting system processes. Use-case diagram (UML) and Microsoft

Visio were utilized during system modeling and the system architectural design. The hardware

integration was made possible through the provision of SDK in VB.net codes. The database was

designed with Microsoft SQL Server to harness its security and scalability. VB.net programming was

chosen as the development platform to realize the e-voting system because of its simplicity, flexibility,

and ease of deployment. Agile methodology and component-based approach were used for the

implementation because of ease of adaptability and to quickly effect any changes in stakeholder‟s

requirements. Selected users were used to carry out the evaluation of the e-voting system after it was

deployed on a cloud server where Nigeria election context scenario was simulated for them.

4 IMPLEMENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE E-VOTING SYSTEM

The e-voting system as modelled and designed using appropriate UML diagrams was implemented and

the screen shots of the developed e-voting system are presented below. Figure 1 show the login screen

shot of the e-voting application when launched on a system terminal. The operator or the administrator

provides the right credentials to access the system. The screenshot below shows the login of each user

when the e-voting is started.

7
 Figure 1: Login screen of the e-voting software

After the user of the e-voting system has successfully login, the first crucial part of any election is

voter‟s registration. This is where all the eligible voters are captured and registered for the election

processes. The personal information as well as biometric data of the voters are collected and stored

which they will use later to cast their vote during the election. Figure 2 screenshot shows the voter‟s

registration of the e-voting system.

Figure 2: voter‟s registration screen of the e-voting software

8
Before the commencement of any voting exercise, all eligible voters must pass through the process of

accreditation, this is also known as verification exercise for the voters. Here voter‟s biometric finger

print or voters ID number or RFID enabled voters card can be used to authenticate each voter before

they are allowed to cast their vote. Figure 5 shows the voting screenshot after voter‟s accreditation.

Fig 3: Voter‟s authentication screen before voting of the e-voting software

Qualified voter who has been accredited will now be allowed to cast his/her vote through the display of

electronic ballot system where the voter can make a choice by looking at the display of all party logos

taking part in the election on the screen. The figure 4 is the screenshot that captured the electronic

ballot system for voters.

9
 Figure 4: Electronic Ballot screen for voters of the e-voting software

When all the voters have voted, the e-voting system will start the result collation and summarize the

election result in tabular form or graphical display. The figure 5 is the screenshot that shows the

graphical display of the voting results summary. The political party that won the election in all

categories will be seen on the screen.

10
 Fig 5: Election result summary of the e-voting software

4.1 SYSTEM USABILITY EVALUATION

In the standard of ISO 9241-11, “Usability can be defined as the length at which a product can be used

by specific number of users in order to get specific goal with utmost satisfaction, efficiency and

effectiveness in a specific context of use”. The requirements compliance and, process correctness of the

e-voting system were however verified and validated through the examination of various software

representations, design documents, requirement documents and the program codes. This was necessary

to ascertain that the user requirements have been well taken care of in the software representations that

culminated into the build-up process and also to ensure that the final product meet the requirements of

both the users and the stakeholders. At the end of the online voting and evaluation of the system,

questionnaires were distributed to them and the results obtained are fed into SPSS Software and table 1

shows the output of the results obtained from the statistical analysis software.

11
In order to evaluate the usability of software system, some factors need to be considered as proposed by

(Ikhu-Omoregbe, 2007). They are outlined in the table 1 below together with the respective results

obtained from the data analysis after using SPSS package.

4.1.0 PARTICIPANTS

According to Faulkner (2003), the minimum number of people that can participate in a usability study

is 20. Hence in order to carry out the system evaluation of the system developed, the e-voting system

was deployed on a cloud server and 20 selected stakeholders and users were asked to test it by using it

to vote considering Nigeria election context. After the suitability and usability of the system were tested

by the selected users, the system evaluation was also carried out with questionnaires to record the

suitability and usability of the system. The descriptive statistical analysis of the questionnaires

distributed is discussed as follows.

4.1.1 DATA ANALYSIS

The statistics showing the rate of experience/skill of the participants in the use of computer software is

given in Table 1. It reveals that the would-be users of the e-voting system have at least average

experience/skill in the use of computer software.

Table 1: Skill of Participants in the use of computer software

Participants Novice Average Good Expert
Skill in the use of computer software 20 0% 5.26% 52.63% 42.12%
The statistics showing the kind of devices used by users to access and test the suitability and usability

of the e-voting software developed is given in table 2.

Table 2: Devices used to access and test the e-voting software

Participants Android Blackberry iPad iPod Laptop
Devices used to access the e-voting 20 10 0 1 4 5
software
Percentage 52.63% 0% 5.26% 21.05% 26.32%

12
For all the participants, an overall score was computed for each of the usability dimension by averaging

all the ratings on the questionnaire that was used. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)

was used to generate the frequency distribution, mean and standard deviations and all the relevant

charts for all the ratings. Table 3 shows the descriptive statistical analysis of questionnaire data.

Table 3: Descriptive Statistical Analysis of the Questionnaires

Usability Features Mean Ratings Standard Deviation Variance
Simplicity 4.55 0.484 0.235
Navigation 4.30 0.626 0.205
Memorability 4.40 0.448 0.253
Hypertext Structure 4.40 0.502 0.482
Satisfaction 4.18 0.696 0.208
Consistency 4.40 0.578 0.336
Completeness 4.25 0.619 0.382
Self-Evidence 4.45 0.485 0.234

4.1.2 RELIABILITY TEST

The reliability estimates from the result obtained were calculated. Reliability and convergent validity

were also estimated by using Cronbach‟s alpha and produced a result of 0.771 which is above 0.7

recommended by (Sauro and Kindlund, 2005). This is an indication of the questionnaire‟s reliability.

Cronbach‟s Alpha coefficient theoretical maximum is usually defined as 1.0. The reliability statistics

and the Cronbach‟s alpha value are shown in table 4 and table 5 respectively.

4.1.3 RELIABILITY STATISTICS

Table 4: SPSS Test Cases

N %
Valid 20 100.0
Excluded(a) 0 .0
Total 20 100.0

Table 5: Cronbach‟s Alpha

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items
0.771 8

13
4.2 Discussion

According to Sauro and Kindlund (2005), the usability attributes presented in table 3 collated from the

questionnaires‟ respondents are discussed below:

(a) Simplicity: The mean rating for this was 4.55. This indicates that the users found it easy to use

and understand.

(b) Navigation: This showed a mean rating of 4.30 indicating that the users did not have any

challenge navigating through the e-voting software.

(c) Memorability: The mean rating calculated for this is 4.40 and this represent a measure of how

the users revisit the software and are able to recall how to perform the basic functions after a

period of one week.

(d) Hypertext Structure: It showed a mean rating of 4.40. This proved that the software was found

to be well structured by the users and there were active links to the various functions and

features.

(e) Satisfaction: From the table, the satisfaction attribute reported a mean rating of 4.18. The users

were of the opinion that the e-voting software requires few steps to complete any thereby saving

time.

(f) Consistency: The mean rating here is 4.40 and showed that the software has a good layout that

is consistent as they navigate from one page to another.

(g) Completeness: The completeness attribute here have mean rating of 4.25 and this showed that

the respondents were satisfied with the basic features of the e-voting software.

(h) Self-evidence: The mean rating found for self-evidence was 4.45. It indicates that the e-voting

software was found to contain tabs and links to access important information and pages. Such

tabs, buttons and links on the software were self-informing.

14
Various usability studies showed that a system with very good usability should have a mean rating of 4

on a 1-5 scale and 5.6 on a 1-7 scale (Sauro and Kindlund, 2005). Therefore, the approach adopted is 1-

5 scale and then conclude that the e-voting system developed has a “Good Usability” based on their

respective mean ratings mentioned before.

5 Conclusion and Recommendation

Nigeria elections have been bedevilled by allegations of irregularities and post-election violence. In an

attempt to curb this ugly trend, the INEC placed her confidence in technology by adopting Smart Card

Reader Machine and Automated Permanent Voters Cards. The preliminary experiment has proven their

efficacy in combating election frauds which will also pave way for the adoption of substantive e-voting

machine in Nigeria. Considering the overwhelming acceptance of these new innovations (PVC and CR)

among the citizens which led to the defeat of the incumbent political leaders, one can deduce that

prospective candidates will be committed to developmental projects and programs that would have

impact on the masses.

The transparent nature of the e-voting will minimize post-election violence and encouraged defeated

contestants to concede defeat as epitomized by PDP presidential candidate in 2015 general elections. In

addition to the card readers, the track record of the presidential candidate of the opposition party

(APC), goodwill and support of patriotic power brokers across the country, the roles of the National

Peace Committee, the presence of International organizations during the elections contributed to hitch

free election. This also expedites the first ever victory of the opposition party in the history of Nigeria.

Finally, severe laws, penalties should be enacted to allow INEC perform their duties without excessive

interference. The outcome of 2015 general elections has demonstrated that, the masses can determine

their leadership, and it goes along to confirm that non-performance leaders can easily be voted out of

power, therefore, all leaders must be committed to improving the wellbeing of the masses, hence, an

indicator to poverty alleviation in Nigeria.

15
REFERENCES

Abu-Shanab E., Knight M. And Refai H. (2010) „E-Voting Systems: A Tool for E-Democracy‟,
Management Research and Practice Vol. 2 No. 3, pp: 264-274

Ahmad S., Abdullah S. A and Arshad R. (2015) „Issues and Challenges of Transition to e-voting
technology in Nigeria‟, Public Policy and Administration Research, Vol. 5, No 4, pp. 95-102.

Ajiboye A.R, Jimoh R. G, Adewole K.S, and Oladipo I.D (2013), „Modeling and Evaluation of E-
Voting System for Sustainable Credible Election‟, International Journal of Applied Information
System, Vol.5 No. 3, pp. 8-14.
Ayo C., Adebiyi, A. A., and Sofoluwe, A. B. (2008), „E-voting Implementation in Nigeria: The Success
Factors‟, Journal of Computer Science and its Application, Vol. 15 No. 2 pp. 91-105

Faulkner, L. (2003) „Beyond the five-user assumption: Benefits of increased sample sizes in usability
testing‟, Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, Vol. 3 No.35 pp. 379-383

Gerlach, F. (2009). Seven principle for secure e-voting, Communication of the ACM, Vol.52, No.2.
pp.8-9.

Musa A., Ayo C.K. John S.N. (2011) „Building a Multimodal, Trust-Based E-voting System‟,
Proceedings of the 2011 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and
Applied Computing (EEE'11 - The 2011 International Conference on e-Learning, e-Business,
Enterprise Information Systems, and e-Government. USA, July, 2011).

Ikhu-Omoregbe, N.A (2007: Development of a formal framework for usable operations support in E-
health based systems. Ph.D Thesis, Covenant University. Nigeria.

Folorunso O, Ogunseye O. S, Okesola J.O. and Olaniyan O.M. (2010) „Visualizing E-Voting
Results‟, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 57-69.
Momodu, I.B and Omogbhemhe M.L (2013) „UML Models for electronic Voting System‟
Nigerian Annals of Natural Sciences, Vol.13 No. 2, pp.1-9.

Moses Duruji, Charles Ayo, Samuel Oni., and Aderonke. (2015) „Making a Case for e-voting in
Nigeria‟, Proceedings of the 15th European Conference on e-government, pp.100-106.

Sauro J. and Kindlund E. (2005) „A method to standardize usability metrics into a single score‟, In
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in Computing Science pp. 401 – 409.

Yekini N.A., Oyeyinka I. K., Oludipe O.O. and Lawal O.N. (2012) „Computer-Based Automated
Voting Machine for Elections in Nigeria‟, International Journal of Computer science and
Network Security, Vol.12 pp. 57-62.

16