Design of a Solar Power Electronic Voting Machine

Abstract

Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is a device that is used to count ballot and record votes instead of doing it manually using human resource to record and count votes. The many problems associated with manual counting of votes that it laborious, erroneous and time consuming. This makes the entire system very inefficient. As voting is a sensitive issue, mismanagement can lead to issues as large and complicated as political unrest. The debilitating effect that political unrest can eventually lead to needs no describing. Bangladesh, being a developing nation cannot afford to be held up in its economic development due to mis-management in elections. On the other hand, for a power starved nation like Bangladesh, the gap between demand and supply of electricity remains large. A good majority of the people are deprived of this basic facility. Over dependency on electronic devices for sensitive purposes might not seem like a viable option either. However, renewable energy based systems can be the solution to tackling such crisis. A solar powered EVM addresses all the above concerns. This paper discusses in detail the design of a solar powered EVM prototype which is efficient and allows the user a relief from the laborious act of vote collection and counting. Furthermore, it also removes the errors from the system, since it is a digital device. One of the biggest concerns of EVM is the security system which includes insider threats, network vulnerability and challenges to auditing. To limit these issues, the prototype has been developed with a three stage security encryption.

Existing System

Analysis of an Electronic Voting System.

Proposed System

This paper proposes the design of an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) that is run through solar power. With the fast depleting fossil fuel reserves, the world is now shifting its focus on reliable, sustainable energy generation: renewable energy based generation. Based on its geographic location, solar is the ideal choice of renewable energy source. A simple microcontroller based, solar powered EVM will allow the Election Commission some respite from the mayhem caused during and after the elections. Furthermore, it will also allow the country to keep pace with the development and achieve the governments dream of a digital Bangladesh. The primary purpose of this paper is to develop a cost effective secured EVM system incorporated with existing solar power system to provide inexpensive continuous power supply which can be greatly beneficial for a developing country like Bangladesh where power source is infrequent.

Architecture

Circuit design of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM)