JIMMA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

JIMMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNLOGY
SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
ON
Designing and Implementation of Electronic Voting Machine for Ethiopia
BY

PI: ARUN RADHAKRISHNAN (Asst. Prof.)

Co-PI: MELAKU MATEWOS (M.Sc.)

Sep, 2015
Jimma, Ethiopia
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Table of Contents
Title

page

Executive summery ..................................................................................................................... 3

CHAPTER ONE
1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Background ................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Statement of the problems .............................................................................................. 4
1.3 Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 4
1.3.1 General objective ..................................................................................................... 4
1.3.2 Specific objectives ................................................................................................... 5
1.4 Significance...........................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO

2. Brief understanding........................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Existing system.................................................................................................................6
2.2 Proposed System...............................................................................................................7
2.3 Working Principle.............................................................................................................9
2.4 Expected result................................................................................................................10

CHAPTER THREE
3.Work plan and cost breakdown..............................................................................................11
3.1 Work plan.........................................................................................................................11
3.2 Research budget...............................................................................................................12
References ............................................................................................................................... 14

Executive summary

Voting is the most vital process of democratic country like Ethiopia, through which people can
determine their decision. In all elections which have been conducted earlier in Ethiopia, a voter
casts his/her vote to a candidate by putting a mark in the ballot paper against the name of the
candidate, then folds the ballot paper, puts it in the ballot box and finally counting the polled
votes. This process consumes long time, consumes more resources, very much prone to errors
and can be concluded that this method is not fast and accurate. To avoid the above drawback of
voting process in Ethiopia, a new method is proposed using electronic means i.e Electronic
Voting machine (EVM). EVM is an electronic device used to record votes automatically without
the need of manual operation to avoid ballot paper, ballot box, stamps and people to process the
voting.

The EVM consists of two units namely control unit and ballot unit and both are wired. Ballot
unit is used to cast the votes by the voter and control unit is used to control the voting
mechanism by the polling officer. The main advantages of this new system are easy to carry and
maintain. The new system consumes very less time for the voters to poll their votes, it does not
use large amount of resources such as papers and the counting system is more accurate when
compared to the old system. In this new system the results can be identified within one day itself.

Chapter One
1. Introduction

1.1 Background
In Ethiopia every citizen who is above the age of 18 years irrespective of his/her religion, region,
caste, creed, color, economic status, education and sex have right to vote and elect her/his
candidate. So, Voting is the backbone of democracy. Voting can be done in various ways. In
early Roman Empire voting used to be done by raising hands in favor or against. In board rooms
voting is done in similar way, some write their vote down, some choose to speak. In Ethiopia the
general elections has been conducted in the month of May and the final results has been declared
at the end of June only. Also during this election the opposition party claimed that some of the
ballot boxes have been filled in by the ballot papers before starting of the elections itself. And
even the international observers also indicated that some of the polling officers failed to show the
empty ballot boxes to the public before starting of the elections. The time it took to conduct the
elections and the problems which have been observed during the election is the main motivation
behind this research work.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Voting by EVMs is simpler compared to the conventional system, where one has to put the
voting mark on or near the symbol of the candidate of his/her choice, and fold it first vertically
and then horizontally and thereafter put it into the ballot box, but in EVMs, the voter has to
simply press the switch against the candidate and symbol of his choice and the vote is recorded.
Rural and illiterate people had no difficulty in recording their votes in EVMs.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1General objective
The main objective of this research is to Design and Implement Electronic Voting Machine for
Ethiopia.

1.3.2 Specific objectives

To design a device which helps to conduct a transparent and efficient election.
To reduce the amount of resources consumed to conduct elections.
To introduce modern, faster and reliable election process in Ethiopia.

1.4 Significance of the study

The best thing or contribution of this study is 1.Introducing new technology for Ethiopia, 2.
Supports fast and reliable election, 3. Reducing human resources, 4. Reducing material resources.

Chapter Two
2. Brief understanding

2.1 Existing system

The existing system which is in practice uses ballot paper and ballot box. In this process first the
election commission announces the date of election and then prepares the list of candidates those
who are competing in a particular place or constituency. Then the list which contains the list of
candidates along with their party name and symbol will be printed and number should be higher
that the number of voters in that particular area. Then these papers will be transported to that
particular area along with other resources such as ballot box, stamps. The process which will be
followed in polling booth is explained as follows.
The voter arrives to the polling booth and shows his identity card to the polling officer.
The polling officer checks whether the voters name is present in the list of voters. If the
voter name is there then the polling officer will issue the ballot paper to the voter.
The voter enters the secret area where the stamp is placed, then the voter puts the stamp
against the name of the candidate to whom he is willing to cast his vote.
Then the voter folds the ballot paper in the prescribed way and then drops into the ballot
box and leaves the place.
After completing the voting in that particular area, the polling officer takes all the ballot boxes
which have been collected during the voting process and hand over to the election commission.
During the counting process the commission opens the ballot boxes and counts the number of
votes polled for each candidates. The candidate with highest number of votes will be declared as
winner for that particular area.

2.1.1 Advantages
The most important advantage of EVM is it prevents the printing of millions of ballot
papers. Instead it uses only one ballot paper which is going to be fixed on the top of
ballot unit. In conventional system one ballot paper is used for each individual voter
which results in huge savings by way of cost of paper, printing, transportation, storage
and distribution.

 Counting is very quick and the result can be declared within 2 to 3 hours whereas in
conventional system it takes days to count.
There are no invalid votes in EVMs. In every Election, the number of invalid votes is
increasing.
Pace of the polling process is fastened by the use of EVMs. Since it is not necessary for
each and every voter to mark his preference, fold it and to put it into the ballot box. In
EVM the voter has to simply press the button near the candidate and symbol of his/her
choice.
More economical
Less manpower required
Time conscious, as less time required for voting and counting
Saves transportation cost due to its compact size
Convenient on the part of voter.

2.1.2 Drawbacks
Some of the votes which are not clearly stamped, stamped for two candidates or stamped
between two candidates will automatically becomes invalid votes which will not be
counted.
For casting vote little time will be consumed for every voter. If more number of voters is
there then this process becomes very tedious.
During counting time of votes large amount of manpower is required to take all those
papers and count for different number of candidates. And also during counting errors may
occur due to human mistakes which lead to big confusion .
Large amount of resources such as papers will be wasted in this process.
It is time consuming process.
2.2 Proposed System

In the proposed system, an electronic device will be implemented to conduct the voting process.
The device consists of two units namely control unit and ballot unit which are connected by
wires. Control unit is used to control the whole mechanism whereas the ballot unit is used to cast

the votes. Control unit will be kept with the polling officer and the ballot unit will be kept in the
secret place.
Ballot unit

Control unit

Fig. General Block diagram

2.2.1 Ballot Unit
The ballot unit consists of switches and LEDs for each candidate and also a buzzer. The names
of the candidates and their voting symbol will be pasted parallel with each switch which will
enable the voter to cast his vote easily. The voter has to press the switch which is in parallel with
the name of the candidate to whom he wants to cast his vote. Then the LED glows and the buzzer
produces a sound which denotes that his vote has been casted successfully. Even the photos of
each candidate along with their name and symbol can be added which makes the process simpler.
And also the ballot unit consists of a buzzer which sounds when each voter casts his votes.

Authority
Switch
Mode selection
switch

Switches for
candidates with
LED
Microcontroller
Buzzer

LCD

Clear vote
switch
Fig. Block Diagram of Electronic Voting Machine
2.2.2 Control Unit

Mode selection switch:-The machine will operate in two different modes namely, voting mode
and counting mode. In voting mode the machine will store all the votes that are casted by the
voters. Counting mode is used to count the count the votes that are casted.
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Authority switch:-This switch is used to control the voting process. When the polling officer
presses this button then only the voter can able to cast (press the button) the vote. The voter can
able to press the voting switch only one time. Even when the voter presses the switch for the
second time also the machine will not store the second vote. The polling officer has to press the
authority switch again to enable the candidate switch. Then only the voter can able cast his vote.

Clear vote switch:- This switch is used to clear the stored votes after counting is done.
LCD:- LCD is used to display the status. After each vote it will display that the vote is casted
when the machine is operating in voting mode. In counting mode it is used to display the result.

2.3 Working Principle

The machine is powered ON and the power led glows.
Select the mode of operation. Counting mode or voting mode.
o Voting Mode: When toggle switch is in voting mode Voting mode is displayed
followed by Ready to vote. After a vote being given, Vote casted successfully
is displayed.
o Counting Mode: When toggle switch is in counting mode Counting mode is
displayed on the LCD, and total number of votes to respective candidate will be
displayed on the screen.
The voter arrives to the polling booth and shows his identity card to the polling officer.
The polling officer checks whether the voters name is present in the list of voters. The
voter will be allowed to enter into polling compartment where the ballot unit is kept. And
also the polling officer presses the authority switch to enable the voter to cast his vote.
On the Ballot Unit, the voter has to press the button which is placed in front his/her
favorite candidate and then release it.
When the button is pressed, the LED indicator also lights up and a sound will be
generated by the buzzer. This shows the voter that his/her vote has been casted.

Is it possible for a voter to press the same button for many numbers of times?

When a button is pressed, the LED present near the button glows and a sound occurs. Then the
system is more or less disabled. Even if the voter presses the button again, the EVM wont
register those votes. It is only when the polling officer presses the authority switch on the control
unit upon arrival of the next voter, then the machine gets reactivated. EVMs ensures the
principle of one man, one vote.

What happens when more than one button is pressed simultaneously?

Sometimes it happens, in this case the LED will not glow and there will not be any beep. This
ensures that the voting has not been done and the voter has to press the button again.

2.4 Expected result

An Electronic voting machine will help the election commission to conduct the elections in a
transparent and efficient way which also reduces the quantity of resources used to conduct paper
based elections. Accuracy levels will be very high if an electronic voting machine is used. This
device is not only useful for conducting national wide elections but also it will be helpful to
conduct university student elections and to get opinion in an official meeting where the results
have to be known immediately.

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Chapter Three
3. Work plan and Cost breakdown
3.1 Work plan

1.

Literature review

2.

Data collection

a.

Primary data

b.

secondary data

3.

Data analysis

4.

Designing the system

5.

Optimizing the design

6.

Report Preparation

7.

Report Compilation

June

May

April

March

February

Components of thesis work

January

Table 3.1 work plan

8. paper submission

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3. 2 Cost breakdown
Table 3.2 cost breakdown
S.N.

Number of cost items

Unit

Quantity Unit Price Total Price

(birr)
(birr)

1. Stationary
1.1

Printing paper

Num

130

260

1.2

Photo copy paper

Num

130

260

1.3

Hard disk

Num

2000

2000

1.4

Exercise book, pen and other

500

1.5

communication

2000

Sub-Total

5,020
2. Transportation

2.1

Taxi at A.A and Nazrate

4000

2.2

Transportation to Addis Ababa

Trips

2*2*2

224

1792

2.3

Transportation to regional state

Trips

2*2*2

274

2192

2.4

Taxi for data collector

4000

Sub-Total

11,984
3. Per diem

3.1

Per diem for data processor/Analysis

Days

10*4

124

4960

3.2

Per diem for researchers (A.A)

Days

15*2

206

6180

3.3

Per diem for data collector (A.A)

Days

10*2

171

3420

3.4

Per diem for researchers during data survey

Days

10*2

171

3420

3.5

Per diem for translator at regional state

Days

10*2

124

2480

Sub-total

20,460
4. Material cost

4.1

PIC microcontroller16F877A

Num

1500

7500

4.2

PIC programmer (USB type)

Num

5000

10,000

4.3

PIC development boards

Num

600

1200

4.4

Step down transformer 230/12V

Num

1500

3000

4.5

Bridge Rectifier IC W06M

Num

500

1000
12

4.6

Resistors

Num

Each 5

10

250

Each 5

12

240

300

600

(1K,10K,47K,100K,330K)
4.7

Capacitors (22pf,0.1f,10f,470f)

4.8

Voltage regulator LM7805

4.9

LEDs (Red, Green and Blue)

Each 10

20

600

4.10

Liquid Crystal Display 16X2

300

600

4.11

Buzzer

100

200

4.12

Switches

20

20

400

4.13

Wires

500

500

4.14

Mikro C pro version

10,000

4.15

Bread boards

200

Sub-total

74,554

Contingency 10%
Grand total

10,000
1000
37,090
7455.4
82,009.4

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References:
1. A Preview on Microcontroller Based Electronic Voting Machine by Diponkar Paul and
Sobuj Kumar Ray published in International Journal of Information and Electronics
Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2013 pp 185-190.
2. A Simplified Electronic Voting Machine System by Md. Murshadul Hoque published
in International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol.62, 2014, pp.97-102
3. ELECTRONC VOTING MACHINE by Pooja Nagle and Neha Agarwal, Available at
https://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/uma/~wel/wel45/public_html/edl10s/voting.pdf
4. http://www.bgr.in/news/how-does-an-electronic-voting-machine-evm-work/
5. http://www.gizmodo.in/indiamodo/This-Is-How-An-EVMWorks/articleshow/33746573.cms

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