The Imperative of Electronic Voting System for Transparent and Credible Elections in Nigeria

This project focuses on the design and implementation of an automated voting system to address the challenges and limitations of the existing electoral system in Nigeria. The manual voting process is associated with several problems, including multiple registration, multiple voting, invalid voters’ registers, ballot stuffing and snatching, electoral violence, inaccurate 1.0 Introduction vote counting, poor organization, and logistical and administrative constraints. These challenges necessitate the adoption of an information and communication technology (ICT) driven approach to improve electoral efficiency, transparency, accuracy, and credibility. The Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM) was adopted for the development of the proposed system. Data were collected through observation, questionnaires, and oral interviews. The system was designed using electronic voter authentication, permanent voter card verification, fingerprint authentication concepts, electronic ballot casting, and secure transmission of votes to a central collation server through a public network. The system was implemented using PHP and MySQL to facilitate voter registration, authentication, candidate selection, vote casting, and automated result collation. Testing demonstrated that registered voters could log in, cast their votes, and transmit them electronically, while unregistered users were denied access and voters were prevented from voting more than once. The study concludes that an automated voting system has the potential to reduce electoral irregularities, minimize human errors, accelerate vote counting, and lower the cost of electoral administration. It is recommended that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) strengthen its technological infrastructure, improve voter registration and authentication, and establish adequate security measures and legal frameworks to support the effective implementation of electronic voting in Nigeria.