Preferential Electronic Voting Machine - An Embedded Computing Solution

Akash Konnur1, Archana Nandibewoor2, Nita Kakhandaki3

2

4th Sem Mtech CSE department SDMCET Dharwad, Karnataka, India. Faculty and research scholar CSE department SDMCET, Dharwad, Karnataka, India. 3 Faculty computer science department SDMCET Dharwad, Karnataka, India.
1

akash.m.konnur@gmail.com narchana2006@gmail.com 3 nitagkulkarni@gmail.com

Abstract India is one of the Countries which have introduced EVM for Parliamentary and Assembly polls successfully. But EVM is not being used in preferential voting system because of high level complexities like need for calibration of machine before every election based on number of contestants and several other constraints in recording of votes and counting. So we are designing an EVM that is useful for preferential polling in specific and that can be extended to traditional elections as well. The study begins with the users intended to use the system. There are mainly three intended users. They are Election Presiding Officer, Voters and Higher Authorities. The services they require with the system changes with each other. However the system should be designed to meet all the end user requirements. The product is a DRE model and is implemented using microcontroller P89V51RD2. The main intension of going to EVM instead of traditional ballot paper method is to get instant results. Hence a result display unit is also required for the system. This is realized using a LCD display unit.

places where preferential election is conducted with low cost of implementation and to carry out a highly effective polling process. KEY WORDS: Ballot paper, Calibration, Counting, Elimination of votes, Preferential Electronic voting machine (EVM) I. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this project is to design a Preferential Voting System, for eliminating ambiguities and to reduce the lapses of votes in the present system of voting by using a secret ballot paper. Here we are designing a preferential voting machine where we can carry out Rajya Sabha and state legislative council, presidential elections [1] electronically and thereby reduce the counting overhead and paper work. We can see electronic voting system being used in the present day situations of electing the members for state assemblies, Panchayat, members of parliament and corporates for urban local bodies etc which almost reduced the overheads of lapses, manual counting and other paper works[2]. In India preferential voting system is adopted according to the constitutional laws in

Hence the problem statement is defined as follows:To design and implement a prototype for preferential Electronic Voting Machine that serves the election process in Indian Rajya Sabha and other

1950[3]. At the initial stages preference voting papers were used which were supplied by election commission of India. Later in 1990s by seeing Australian and American voting system, India also started the usage of ballot papers. But in the modern day the ballot paper preferential voting system has found the weak points in terms of lapses of votes and time overhead. In order to overcome the disadvantages of ballot paper voting system, here is an effort to design a preferential electronic voting system. Ballots papers also perform well however, in terms of user satisfaction, the DRE was significantly better than the older methods. And participants were much more satisfied with their experience of voting on the DRE (Direct Recording Electronic system)[4][5]. This paper focuses on developing a preferential EVM with following features [2]. We should be able to calibrate the machine for number of contestants. This product should be low budget design The result of the product should be instantaneous It should be Easy to maintain and operate. A. Working of Preferential voting system Assume three candidates Nick, Tony and Jenny are contesting for elections. After the election ballot papers were counted and there were 60,000 formal votes. Therefore the absolute majority needed for a candidate to win is 30,001 (50% +1) [1][3]. Let us assume Nick, Tony and Jenny received the following first preference votes:

Nick: 15,000 Tony: 23,000 Jenny: 22,000 Now nobody has gained the absolute majority, so the person with the lowest number of first Preference votes is excluded. The candidate is Nick and then based on second preferences on his ballot papers votes are distributed to either Tony or Jenny. 6,300 of the total number of people who voted for Nick gave the 2nd preference for Tony and the remaining 8,700 people gave 2nd preference to Jenny. This gives Tony a total of 29,300 and Jenny a total of 30,700. Tony: 23,000 + 6,300 = 29,300 Jenny: 22,000 + 8,700 = 30,700 Now as Jenny has 30,700 votes, which is an absolute majority, she becomes the elected member. The process could involve more than two steps shown above. If there were more than three candidates, the candidates with the lowest votes will continue to be excluded and their Preferences are transferred, or distributed, until one candidate has an absolute majority [1][3]. II. EXISTING SYSTEM OVERVIEW

Figure 1: showing a kind Ballot Sheet which is used in existing system [8]

As shown in figure 1, In the existing system of voting we give the preference to the contesting candidate by writing preference number in the box against his/her name. In this existing system it is a bit problematic for an illliterate to cast his vote and in this system lot of problems are conflicts arrise due to rejection of invalid votes because of inaccurate and improper writing, because of giving two or more preferences to same candidate, Or because the voter has given 2nd or 3rd preference without giving 1st preference. In this present model counting overhead is also very high because of the involved paperwork. And voters are also found to be not very comfortable with this model of voting III. OBJECTIVES OF PROPOSED MODEL A. To Enhance Ease of Voting by Reducing the Lapses of Votes Usually in the ballot paper voting system, there are chances of loss of valuable votes due to improper marking of preferences by voters. Ex: in traditional system if the voter puts his/her votes in between the places of two candidates by mistake, then it will be considered as a lapse and that type of votes will be discarded. The proposed system will overcome the lapses as it will be DRE model [4]. B. To Enhance Quicker Counting Since the voting process is computerized, speed of counting the votes based on the preference is very fast. Early declaration of results was appreciated by the political parties, contestants and the polling personnel. C. To Reduce Menace of Eliminating Invalid Votes

It will help to reduce the disputes among the contestants over the rejected votes it must be ensured that no section of the people felt handicapped by the new system. D .To Reduce the Paperwork The proposed system is mainly concerned with the reduction of the paper work as it will create so many problems and disputes while counting the votes and other calculations in the ballot paper voting system. IV. BLOCK DIAGRAM OF PROPOSED MODEL

Figure 2: showing user interface diagram of proposed system and also block diagram

As shown in figure 2 The Ballot unit consists of 6 switches, where each switch corresponds to one candidate. And a name is assigned to each candidate. Row From left to right in the Ballot Unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 corresponds to candidate ABCDE F respectively. And it also has a done button which is to be pressed by the voter after giving all the preferences, to indicate the completion his voting. So

that presiding officer permits new voter to cast his votes. A. Polling Process First the control unit should be pressed in order for the voter to be allowed to cast his/her vote by enabling the ballot unit. This has to be done each time a new voter comes to cast their votes [6]. The voter can give preferences in ascending order that is, if the voter presses any button first time then that vote is taken as 1st preference vote and if voter presses any button for 2nd time then that vote is taken as 2nd preference and so on. Suppose if the voter comes and presses the button C for 1st time then his vote has 1st preference for the 3rd candidate and if he presses button number E for 2nd time then his vote has 2nd preference for 5th candidate and so on. Once the polling process is completed the terminating officials terminate the poll disabling the ballot box so that no further voting is allowed. Then counting takes place and the winner is declared. V. REQUIREMENTS A. Hardware and Software Requirements microcontroller, Doorbell switches, Wires & buzzers, Crystal clock input, LEDs, LCD display Rs 232 ic, Keil Micro vision compiler flash magic software, Operating System Windows 7 or XP .
P89V51RD2

3. The number of votes for the candidate should not be revealed in the middle of the polling process. C. Non-functional Requirements a) Performance Requirements: 1. At a time only one voter can cast his votes[2]. 2. The system should be able to deliver the results quickly 3. The user can take his own time to cast his votes. b) Security requirements: 1. The system should be able to provide security with regard of the tampering of Ballet box. 2 .The ballot box should be totally inactive once the polling is terminated. VI. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION A. Calibration Before the start of election higher authorities must be able to calibrate the system such that the number of buttons enabled in ballot unit must be equal to the number of people contesting. NOTE: (Ballot units enabled must be from button 1 to n) where n is the number of candidates contesting. For ex: if 4 people are contesting for elections then higher authorities need to press button D shown in figure 2 that is ballot number 4, Then by doing so he enables first 4 ballot units A,B,C and D. and the remaining ballot units ballot unit 5 and 6 namely ballot E and F will remain inactive. After calibration control unit should be enabled by higher authorities to start the election process by allowing a voter to cast his votes.

B. Functional Requirements 1. The voter should be able to cast their votes in the ascending order of the preferences. 2. The voter shall not be able to cast their vote once the polling is terminated.

Figure 3: showing Flow chart for calibration B.

Flowchart for Recording of Votes:

Figure 4: showing flowchart for recording of the votes

C. Counting Process First, all the first preference votes are counted for each candidate. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the formal first preference votes then that person is declared as elected. Suppose if no candidate has an absolute majority after counting 1st preference votes, then candidate with the fewest 1st preference votes is excluded. Excluded candidates votes are then transferred to the other candidates according to the second preferences shown by voters on these ballot papers. If still no candidate has an absolute majority, again the remaining candidate with the fewest votes is excluded and these votes are transferred. This process will continue until one candidate has more than half the total votes casted so that a candidate is declared elected. This type of voting system is called preferential voting and has been used in India since 1949.[1][3]

VII. PRODUCT PERSPECTIVE 1) This system is New and eliminates the traditional procedure: The traditional procedure of ballot paper voting is not clearly understood by all categories of people especially in rural cooperative society election, where it has to be trained well in order to reduce the invalid votes. The proposed system can be well understood by all categories of people which make them the task much simpler. 2) Time overhead is reduced: In the traditional system, time taken while polling each preference vote in the ballot paper is much higher for an individual voter. The proposed system is concerned with the reduction of time by providing efficient and appropriate user interface. 3) It makes Election Procedure to be carried out in a simple and effective way: In the Traditional voting system calculating the Preference Votes for each candidate manually is a complex task. The proposed system will reduce the time of the polling officials to train the counting personnel, computerized and automated counting thereby makes the task much simpler and effective. 4. Every voter must and should give the first preference to any one of the candidate and then further preferences are optional. 5. Preferences once given to a candidate cannot be altered or changed. Product is designed to meet the requirements of three different end users of the system namely 1. Election Presiding Officer 2. Voters

Figure 5: showing flowchart for counting process

3. Calibrating, terminating and counting personnel A. Implemented product

4. The using of the system can be easily understood even by the uneducated section of society 5. Counting overhead and paper works is reduced. 6. Reduces the Menace of eliminating invalid votes is avoided 7. The system is a low budget design B. Disadvantages 1. This product can be used only when numbers of people contesting are six or less than six. IX. FURTHER SCOPE 1. Use of Bio-Metric authentication in Control Unit. 2. The machine can be tuned such that it could be useful for normal elections also. 3. Using SUN SPAUGHT, the centralized operation of election is possible. X. CONCLUSION This product is affordable by many organizations where preferential elections conducted. The product is a prototype, and this product can be used only when numbers of people contesting for elections are six or less than six and the product is designed to conduct elections in which only one person is to be elected This product can be used in Rajya-Sabha, Lok Sabha, where preferential voting is conducted. Time overhead in counting of votes is reduced and also conflicts due to lapses of votes are reduced. As per the survey made by government voters are more comfortable with DRE (Direct Recording Electronic voting system) than ballot paper voting or any other voting system.[4]

Figure 6 showing the implemented product

Intended audience for the product This product can be used to conduct the elections for the post of president of India and vice president of India. This product can also be used in Rajya Sabha, and other local bodies like private organizations, co-operative societies, private sector, financial institutions and all other institutions where Preferential Voting is carried out. VIII. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES A. Advantages 1. In India more than 10 tones of papers is used for ballot papers for preferential voting. Hence by using this EVM earth can be made a little greener. 2. It can be used by many communities for elections. 3. Instant results are possible unlike the one with existing system. Even willingly the voter cannot cast invalid votes

References [1]http://pib.nic.in/archieve/others/pr.ht ml [2]http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/President_V P_Elec2012/FAQ_VP.pdf [3] Central Government Act, Article 55(3) in the Constitution of India 1949 [4] Electronic Voting Machines versus Traditional Methods improved Preference, Similar Performance Sarah P. Everett*, Kristen K. Greene*, Michael D. Byrne*, Dan S. Wallach, Kyle Derr, Daniel Sandler, Ted Torous *Department of Psychology Department of Computer Science Rice University 6100 Main St. Houston, TX 77005 USA [5] http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/evm.aspx [6] Handbook Election commission of India - Model check list for Presiding officers 2009 [7] Product data sheet P89V51RB2/RC2/RD2 8-bit 80C51.