Development of a Semi-Automated Electoral System - Case Study: Nigeria Electoral System

Abstract

In developing democracies of the world, the electoral process is often enmeshed in distrust, fraud, unprecedented level of rigging and in most cases ends up in courts of law where millions of hard earned funds (public and private) are wasted. Nigeria, despite her democratic experience, has remained ‘exemplary’ in such profligacy. The reason has always been the absence of a reliable electoral process capable of ensuring a fraud-free general election with the use of the available technology. In this paper, a Semi-Automated Electoral System (SAES) that uses biometric technology is proposed to enhance the electoral system and minimize fraud often associated with the process. The system is based on research into the past electoral processes in the years 2003, 2007 and 2011 in Nigeria and the attempted but unsuccessful introduction of said technology. Biometric technology is the most patronized identity enhancement technique used today in the ICT industry and has been successfully implemented where the identity of a user, customer, citizen, traveler, student etc. is of prime importance. For the development of the proposed system, the fingerprint biometric technology was used because of its reliability, correctness and accessibility. In the proposed system, the electoral process is categorized into three sub-processes viz; the constitution, validation of the voter register and the elections proper.