DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTION COLLATION RESULT
MARYAM USMAN GARBATI
(FSC/CSC/15/0021)
A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE,
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
SCIENCE (B.Sc. Hons.) IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
OCTOBER, 2019
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTION COLLATION RESULT
MARYAM USMAN GARBATI
(FSC/CSC/15/0021)
A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE,
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSE IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
SCIENCE (B.Sc. Hons.) IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
OCTOBER, 2019
CERTIFICATION
This project entitled “DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTION COLLATION
RESULT” by MARYAM USMAN GARBATI a student with registration number
FCS/CSC/15/0021 meets the requirements governing the award of the degree of Bachelor of
Science (B.Sc.) in Computer Science and is approved for its contribution to knowledge and
literary representation.
………………………………………………
………………………………………
Signature and Date
Mal. Umar Sani Dabai
Project Supervisor
…………………………………………….
Dr. zaharaddeen sufyan
Head of Department
………………………………………
Signature and Date
…………………………………………….
External Examiner
………………………………………
Signature and Date
i
DEDICATION
I dedicate this project to God Almighty my creator, my strong pillar, my source of inspiration,
wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He sources my strength throughout this program and on
His wings only have I soared. I also dedicate this work to my parent who has encouraged me all
the way and whose encouragement has made sure that I give it all it takes to finish that which I
have started. I also dedicate this work to my father; Alh Usman Garbati and my mother; Hajiya
Rukayya Usman for encouraging me all the way and whose encouragement has made sure that I
give it all it takes to finish that which I have started. To my Elder brother Muhammad Usman,
my lovely sisters Sa’adatu & Fadimatu and my entire family.
Thank you. My love for you all can never be quantified. God bless you.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the accomplishment of this project report successfully, many people have best owned upon me
their blessings and the heart pledged support, this time I am utilizing to thank all the people who
have been concerned with this technical report.
Primarily, I would thank Allah(SWT) for being able to complete this technical report
with success. I would like to thank my beloved family for being with me in the whole process
especially my dear dad and mum who stood by me in all situations even at the times of financial
need.
I would like to thank my supervisor Mal. Umar Sani Dabai whose valuable guidance has been
ones that helped me patch this project and make it full proof success. His suggestion and his
instructions have served as the major contributor towards the completion of the report. My
sincere appreciation and gratitude goes to Mal. MT usman for his advise,support and to my
wonderful lectures for their massive support. Also I would like to thank my friends(Zainab
yahya, Halima Galambi,Umar,Maryam jada,Hamma nani,Sani,Muntaqa) and classmates who
have helped me a lot.
Finally,I wish to say thanks to all the faculty of computing for helping a lot.
iii
Table Contents
CERTIFICATION ............................................................................................................................................... i
DEDICATION .................................................................................................................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................................................................. iii
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................................................... vi
CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1
BACKGROUND OF STUDY .......................................................................................................... 1
1.4
OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 4
1.5
METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 5
1.6
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................... 5
1.7
SCOPE ........................................................................................................................................ 6
CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................................................................. 7
LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................................. 7
2.1
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 7
2.2
COUNTRIES WITH E-VOTING SYSTEMS ................................................................................... 11
2.3 RESULT COLLATION ....................................................................................................................... 14
2.3.1 WHAT IS COLLATION? ............................................................................................................. 14
CHAPTER THREE .......................................................................................................................................... 15
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN .............................................................................................................. 15
3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 15
3.2 FACT FINDING TECHNIQUES ......................................................................................................... 16
3.3 FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS.................................................................................................................... 16
3.4 SYSTEM DESIGN ............................................................................................................................ 18
3.5 Entity-Relationship Diagram ......................................................................................................... 20
3.6 Database Design............................................................................................................................ 21
iv
CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................................... 23
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION .................................................................................................................... 23
4.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 23
4.2 OPERATOR INTERFACE .................................................................................................................. 24
4.3 DATABASE ..................................................................................................................................... 30
4.4 SYSTEM REQUIREMENT ................................................................................................................ 30
4.5 VISUAL STUDIO.............................................................................................................................. 31
CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................................................................................................. 32
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 32
5.1 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 32
5.2 RECOMMENDATION ..................................................................................................................... 32
5.3
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 33
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 34
v
ABSTRACT
The word “Collation” means tabulation or summation of votes. Election results collation has
always been marred with chaos, which many times is in violence form. Often, party agents at the
losing side accuse election officials of colluding with election officers to change results intransit. Result sheets get torn by disgruntled party agent and angry citizens all in the accusation
of conducting fraudulent election. Disparity among election results, such as inconsistent figures,
overvoting, wrong calculation, and fabricating of results, is a common phenomenon in Nigerian
electoral collation processes.
So The success of any election depends on efficient planning and its conduct, i.e. accreditation,
voting, counting, collation and results declaration. Each of these processes feeds into the next.
Collation and declaration of results are critical stages in the election process. Failure to
complete the collation and transmission of results in a quick, transparent and accurate manner
can jeopardize public confidence and the credibility of the elections and will most likely affect
whether candidates and political parties accept the final results.
This system seeks to address the issues above.
vi
vii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
One significant way people express their opinion of choice is through voting.
The act of voting is most welcomed in democratic societies and is therefore
used as a method through which a society expresses willingness in choice of
leadership.
Most
importantly,
voting
helps
in
electoral
process
of
a
democratic country in the choice of its government composition. The electoral
systems formulate rules that translate individual votes into seats, and
therefore affect the representation of society’s interests in governance and
policy making.
Electoral systems have globally witnessed a tremendous improvement over the
last two decades as the need for a reliable electoral system keeps growing.
This need is due to perceived electoral fraud that always leads to disputed
election results; for instance, the disputed 2000 US presidential election
results, the disputed 2007 general elections in Nigeria which led to several
litigations to challenge the outcome of the elections at different levels
across the country, the violent and legal dispute that ensued after the 2011
elections in Nigeria. These challenges have led to electoral reforms;
delivering new electoral policies, amendment of national constitutions etc.
1
The invention of the Web in the early 1990s has revolutionized the world of
computing and has continued to do so more than two decades after. Today, we
watch as everything is being moved into the internet, ranging from taxi
booking, grocery shopping, academic lessons to mere chess game. As such, the
internet and web have continue to show that they were a force to be reckoned
with. In this vain, it is imperative to point that, adopting the internet and
the web in realizing the goal of this project work would be wise essentially.
Recently, there is an urge by most nations to move from the traditional
voting processes to the use of technology in various political systems. The
technology sought the most is the Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) which
provides a growing number of advantages, comparable performance with more
preference over other technologies. Today’s digital electronics technology
have opened more access to the use of EVSs in several national electoral
processes due to its high accuracy, precision, flexibility and support for
technology
integration,
and
the
ability
to
operate
with
less
human
intervention. However, several criticisms have emanated to challenge the
credibility of such technology especially as it applies to security issues and
the power of incumbency to influence the manufacture, distribution, and use of
such devices.
Notwithstanding, the level of human introduced errors and
fraudulent tendencies associated with
2
most of the
manually operated
electoral
systems
have
increased
nation’s
confidence
on
these
EVS
technologies.
This system, however, is not an Electronic Voting System (EVS) but rather part
of the EVS, which comes to curve the fraudulent activities of fabricating
election results and ease the collation processes from grass root level to the
declaration stage. One of the ideas behind introducing this partial EVS, in
stages, is to instill confidence in the mind of the electorate and prepare it
to readily welcome and accept the EVS as it emerges.
2.1
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Election results collation has always been marred with chaos, which many times
is in violence form. Often, party agents at the losing side accuse election
officials of colluding with election officers to change results in-transit.
Result sheets
get torn by disgruntled party agent and angry citizens all in
the accusation of conducting fraudulent election.
On the other hand, election officials at different levels erroneously write
contradicting results. In some cases, these officials fabricate results for a
number of reasons. Majority of those results are not, in reality, obtainable
when compared with the figures in the voters’ register or number of
accredited voters in the unit. These errors become more complicated when such
results move to a higher collation unit, thus complicating the work of higher
3
collation officers at a stage where resolution is likely impossible. Rather,
cancellation of results may likely be the only option at such stage, which in
turn leads to inconclusive elections at a declaration stage.
Disparity among
election results, such as inconsistent figures, overvoting, wrong calculation,
and fabricating of results, is a common phenomenon in Nigerian electoral
collation processes.
These problems have led to electorate and other foreign communities
questioning the integrity of elections and the authorities responsible for
the exercise in Nigeria.
1.3
AIM
To design and develop election collation system capable of addressing
irregularities and hardship associated with Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) Collation Procedures.
1.4
OBJECTIVES
1. To develop a system that would ease the process of collation and pave
way for smooth submission of results from a lower collation unit to a
higher one.
2. To increase the speed of the collation process through automation of
calculation of figures and writing reports.
4
3.
To improve the credibility, transparency and fairness of the
system, thus sowing confidence and hope in the heart of the
electorate.
4. To have every result at one central server.
5. To bring an end to the habit of tearing collation papers by losing
parties and all violence surrounding the process.
1.5
METHODOLOGY
The Collation System is a standalone computer application able to communicate
with a remote server hosting the database. The system will be designed and
developed using the C# with Visual Studio 2013. MySQL will serve as the
database because of its robustness and security.
The traditional top-down approach of system development will be followed in
the course of the development of this system, this is mostly due to its
practical applicability in mostly any project work.
1.6
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Through a direct, information-rich and interactive system, this application will go a long way in
helping concerned election authorities to conduct free and fair election by having election results
in secure and remote servers, away from any violence or an act of political sabotage.
The study will further prove that, information system can be adopted in conducting elections in
the country.
5
1.7
SCOPE
The scope of the system is to cover Nigerian election procedures with specific reference to 2019
general elections conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Furthermore, the system would only cover collation at Polling Units (PU), Ward and Local
Government Area (LGA) Levels. This is because of the limited time and other resources the
researcher has at her disposal. However, the aim of the research would surely be achieved if such
irregularities are addressed at lower levels. The higher levels would just be forwarding correct
and regulated results collated from the roots.
1.8 LIMITATION
My Election Collation Solution (ECS) is not generally a comprehensive application, in the sense
that, it only operates on standalone PC with Microsoft visual studio 2013 (or later versions)
installed on it. This implies that there are obvious limitations that are noticeable. Such limitations
include running the system only on a standalone computer with windows operating system.
Ideally, the system is supposed to be embedded on a small hand-held devices. The system is also
supposed to be linked with a system at a higher collation unit that would forward its entries to a
central server for records, security and further retrieval of information.
However, the scope and further integration of the ECS could be done smoothly as the resources
increase. This is because the designed of the system is an open-ended type and can be modified,
enhanced, and improved to suit the requirements of all electoral bodies in the state.
6
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is a text written by someone to consider the critical points
of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and
methodological contributions to a particular topic. Main goals are to situate
the current study within the body of literature and to provide context for the
particular reader (Cooper, 1998).
This chapter will clearly review the literature under election in
general and the election result collation in particular. Past related works
will be reviewed and analyzed from across all angles of academia.
2.1
INTRODUCTION
One significant way people express their opinion of choice is through
voting. The act of voting is most welcomed in democratic societies and is
therefore used as a method through which a society expresses willingness in
choice of leadership. Most importantly, voting helps in electoral process of a
democratic country in the choice of its government composition. The electoral
systems formulate rules that translate individual votes into seats, and
7
therefore affect the representation of society’s interests in governance and
policy making.
Electoral systems have globally witnessed a tremendous improvement over
the last two decades as the need for a reliable electoral system keeps
growing. This need is due to perceived electoral fraud that always leads to
disputed election results; for instance, the disputed 2000 US presidential
election results (Bal., 2000), the disputed 2007 general election in Nigeria
which led to several litigations to challenge the outcome of the elections at
different levels across the country (Ojo, 2014), the violent and legal dispute
that ensued after the 2011 elections in Nigeria. These challenges have led to
electoral reforms; delivering new electoral policies, amendment of national
constitutions and the provision of adequate facilities to implement new
electoral technologies.
Recently, there is an urge by most nations to move from the traditional
voting processes to the use of technology (E-Voting, 2019) (Everett, et al.,
2008) in various political systems. The technology sought the most is the
Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) which provides a growing number of advantages,
comparable performance with more preference over other technologies (Everett,
et al., 2008). Today’s digital electronics technology have open more access
to the use of EVSs in several national electoral processes due to its high
8
accuracy, precision, flexibility (Asamiah, 2013) and support for technology
integration, and the ability to operate with less human intervention. However,
several criticisms have emanated to challenge the credibility of such
technology especially as it apply to security issues (Wolchok , et al., 2010)
and the power of incumbency to influence the manufacture, distribution, and
use of (Bal., 2000) such devices. That notwithstanding, the level of human
introduced errors and fraudulent tendencies in most other manually operated
electoral systems (Asamiah, 2013) have increase nations confidence on these EVS
technologies.
Most national or state wide elections conducted in a number of
democracies in Africa have ended up in violence (Notes, 2012/2013). In Nigeria
this violence is a direct result of mistrust, suspicion, lack of confidence in
the existing paper balloting process. However, in the just concluded 2015
national elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as
the Nigeria electoral umpire, introduced the use of biometric card reader for
the verification of permanent voter’s identification card. The decision, seem
to be rashly made and did not went through due process of legislation for the
use of such devices (International, 2019) in critical national elections. It
however, gained a wide acceptance and seems to have served to increase
voters’ confidence in the electoral process. To face reality, Nigeria as a
multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and regionally diversified
9
state, will always have trust and confidence related problems with the
existing manual electoral system. As it stands no amount of legislation and
physical security improvement can erase these facts, unless the country looks
towards a trusted technology that will serve as an unbiased process and build
the people’s confidence.
In the Nigeria electoral system, voters are presented with multipleparty multiple-candidate ballot papers to thumb print for a choice candidate.
The process of accreditation of voters has been a serious challenge leading to
various electoral frauds. To make the situation worst is the fact that
multiple thumb printed ballots by a single voter (Briefing, 2019) cannot be
verified after the polls. The slogan “One Man One Vote” has been largely
sung by government after government yet its implementation at the poll is
always flawed. In the 2015 National elections, the introduction of the
biometric card readers did not totally eliminate multiple voting. The
verification
administration
process
also
officers
to
made
it
permit
possible
fraudulent
for
dishonest
voting.
electoral
Credibility
and
transparency at the polling booth build voters’ confidence, and this is what
the country needs to sustain its democracy. Therefore, this paper develops a
conceptual framework for credible and confident electronic democracy with
10
cognizance
to
the
biometric
verification
card
readers
recently
introduced by INEC.
2.2
COUNTRIES WITH E-VOTING SYSTEMS
Every electoral system looks forward to executing a transparent process that satisfies the
expectations of the electorates, political parties, electoral candidates, and observers. To achieve
this transparency, the electoral process must be trusted and reliable. Such factors are driving
democratic nations all over the world into the use of more satisfactory technologies for the
execution of electoral processes. While some nations have legally adopted the use of EVS, a
number of others are experimenting with e-voting, and a few others are considering their use.
Some however, have out rightly rejected the use of e-voting for certain reasons. The following
sub-sections take a brief look at countries with some experiences of EVS.
2.2.1 COUNTRIES WITH FULL EVS
A number of democracies have fully adopted the use of different e-voting technologies.
This decision is a factor of trust and confidence resulting from the long use of EVS in addition to
the numerous advantages the technologies provide. Australia, Canada, France, and Japan are
legally using a combination of voting machines and internet voting systems in their electoral
processes, while Austria, Estonia, and Switzerland adopt the use internet voting system, Brazil,
India, Kazakhstan, Peru, Russia, USA, UAE, and Venezuela are legally using voting machines
options (E-Voting, 2019).
2.2.2 COUNTRIES THAT REJECTED EVS
In some countries, the use of electronic voting has been voted down for certain reasons.
These agitations against the use of EVS are largely due to suspicions and mistrust from
opposition political parties as well as the fear of voter’s insecurity. Germany, Ireland, and
11
Netherland have rejected the use of electronic voting majorly due to opposition pressure without
concrete and holistic evaluation of these systems (Niemoller, 2019). The present discontinuity of
e-voting systems in these countries was based on test carried out on a single e-voting system, the
NEDAP electronic voting systems developed by a Dutch company in the eighties (Ruthrauf,
2015). In Ireland, the opposition complained of the accuracy and secrecy of the e-voting machine
which subsequently led to their stoppage for elections beginning from 2004 even though they
were not adequately tested (Niemoller, 2019) Netherland has questioned the use of electronic
voting earlier in the late 90s (Institute, 2019). They complained of the secrecy and possibility of
results verification with the electronic systems. Taking lead from the Ireland termination of the
e-voting systems, they successfully put a stop to the use of EVS in 2007 (Ruthrauf, 2015). In
Germany, the use of electronic voting has been put on hold since 2005 resulting from law suit
from two voters. These voters only questioned the constitutional use of e-voting systems in
Germany. This led to the ruling by the German Constitutional Court that the use of e-voting
systems is unconstitutional. The court however did not rule out the possible use of EVS in future
German elections.
Paraguay since 2008 has upheld the use of paper ballot as against the use of electronic
voting previously use. This decision was due to opposition pressure that led to an opinion poll by
the supreme electoral court of justice in Paraguay. The results of the poll see an end to the use of
EVS in that country without concrete reasons. United Kingdom experimented with e-voting in
2002, 2003 and 2007 and has since then abandoned the use of EVS due to security complains
from opposition parties.
12
2.2.3 NATIONS CONSIDERING AND EXPERIMENTING WITH EVS
Successes recorded in the use of EVS by several democracies and the advantage of
getting more people involved in the electoral process have made more countries to consider its
use while some are already experimenting on the use of EVS as a better alternative to other
voting systems. Argentina, Belarus, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Mexico,
Nepal, Poland, Romania, Spain, South Korea, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and a lot of others in Asia,
South America, and Europe (E-Voting, 2019) are presently experimenting on the use of EVS at
various levels of their national elections. In Africa, Ghana and Nigeria (Asamiah, 2013) (Ahmad
& Abdullah, 2015) are considering and planning the use of EVS, South Africa currently debate
its use, while Namibia has recently and successfully conducted its first electronic voting
elections. There are calls in Zambia and Zimbabwe to apply e-voting for its coming election
following successes from Namibia. Democratic elections in Africa countries are very volatile
and vulnerable. This is particularly due to high level of mistrust among political parties whose
formations are always bent towards ethnical and religious differences. The electronic voting
system will serve to bridge the trust gap that has ever existed. The Namibian experience has
shown that the application of EVS in Africa democracies is the right direction and should be
followed by other countries. All that is needed is to develop the right framework for adoption
and application of EVS with all parties and interest groups involved.
Nigeria is a peculiar country with so many diversified cultural believes, religious
affiliation, and ethnic backgrounds. Literacy level is also separated within divides of believes,
affiliations, and economic sidelines. Notwithstanding, Nigeria is politically divided into regions
that poses in most cases a mixture of these factors. Notable among these divisions is the north
and south dichotomy that exist since the colonial era. The electoral processes in the country are
heavily affected by these factors and bring a number of challenges to the conduct of credible
13
elections in almost every level of governance. Some of these challenges are electoral right on
franchise, regionalization of political positions, electoral fraud, and high tendencies to election
violence.
2.3
RESULT COLLATION
The success of any election depends on efficient planning and its conduct, i.e.
accreditation, voting, counting, collation and results declaration. Each of these processes feeds
into the next. Collation and declaration of results are critical stages in the election process.
Failure to complete the collation and transmission of results in a quick, transparent and accurate
manner can jeopardize public confidence and the credibility of the elections and will most likely
affect whether candidates and political parties accept the final results. There are situations when
the integrity of a well-run electoral process is severely compromised because of problems
experienced during collation and declaration of results. Collation and Declaration of results are
therefore critical moments that require proper care and attention (INEC, 2019).
2.3.1 WHAT IS COLLATION?
Collation is the tabulation or summation of votes cast at an election. (INEC Manual
for Election Officials, 2019).
2.3.2 DECLARATION OF RESULT
This is the final step in the elections. It is the official announcement of election results by
the electoral administrators. The announcement of results is a mandatory legal requirement of the
electoral process. To safeguard integrity, the results must accurately reflect the total votes, taking
into account decisions on disputed ballots (INEC, 2019).
14
2.3.3 LEVELS OF COLLATION
There are various levels of Collation. Results are collated at the following levels
depending on the type of election. At each level, there is announcement of votes scored. These
include:
1. Registration Area (RA)/Ward Level
2. Local Government Area (LGA) Level
3. State Assembly Constituency Level
4. Federal (House of Representatives) Constituency Level
5. Senatorial District Level
6. State Level
7. And The Collation and Declaration of Presidential Election Result at the National
Level.
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
3.1
INTRODUCTION
The analysis and design of the new proposed Election Result Collation System will be the main
focus of attention in this particular chapter. The front-end and the back-end will be thoroughly
discussed.
15
3.2
FACT FINDING TECHNIQUES
The methods employed in finding some facts related to this particular project are as follows:
3.2.1 Observation
The current system of conducting result collation during election was critically examined and
analyzed. The procedure was fruitful as it yields good result and provide firsthand information
and knowledge of the electoral process.
3.2.2 Interview
Open end questions were employed to interview stakeholders in the overall election process, this
included students that serves as INEC ad-hoc staff during the recent election and other concerned
individuals. This idea has proven to be effective, since open end question gives the respondent
the right to say anything about the question.
3.3
FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS
A feasibility study is performed by An organization or corporation when they want to know
whether a project is possible given certain circumstances. Feasibility studies are undertaken
under many circumstances - to find out whether a company has enough money for a project, to
find out whether the project is worth undertaking and implementing, and to see if there are
enough human resources for the project.
3.3.1 Technical Feasibility
This new Election Result Collation System is technically feasible, because:
 One good workstation is enough for the system operator
 The operator of the system is just required to be computer literate, and nowadays most
people are computer literate.
16
 The system as whole is designed not to be sophisticated, in order to give a good way in
the future to anyone who will undertake the project upgrade apart from the first
developer.
3.3.2 Legal/Ethical Feasibility
The system is legally feasible, because:
 The whole idea of election and the result collation in particular is not illegal, rather is
even a state sponsored exercise that is being conducted by an independent agency (The
INEC). Some citizens might sue INEC claiming illegalities for some exercise and actions,
but collation of results was never part of any process deemed illegal by citizens.
3.3.3 Operational Feasibility
The new system is operationally feasibly, because:
 The new system will only need a computer and operator, the system is not complex with
steep learning curve, hence anyone with little computer knowledge can operate it and get
optimal performance and correct result.
 The operator only needs to remember his password and username, everything else is
straightforward.
3.3.4 Economic Feasibility
The system is economically feasible, because:
 The project is not costly as the overall system .doesn’t involve buying expensive
computer hardware or building some new facilities, the project is so cheap that even
small institution not reaching the level of INEC can afford it.
17
3.4
SYSTEM DESIGN
Systems design is the process of defining the architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and
data for a system to satisfy specified requirements.
3.4.1 Dataflow Diagram
Data flow diagram is a diagram that is drawn to show the data flow of a proposed new
system.
Fig 3.1 depicts a scenario where the Election Result Collation System is started by the operator,
the operator will select login then enter his username and password, after logging in, the operator
can then insert ward, their numbers of polling units and the parties that participate in the final
election. Afterward the operator can start collating results from polling unit to polling unit until
all the ward’s polling units result have been collated and sent to the database. The System will
then finally display the result.
START
HOMEPAGE
LOGIN
18
IS
AUTHORISED
OPERATOR?
NO
YES
COLLATE RESULT
SEE RESULT
EXIT
Fig. 3.1 Data Flow Diagram
3.4.2 Use Case Diagram
This use case diagram will show how system and its users interact, in (fig. 3.2) the interaction is
depicted.
LOGIN
19
OPERATOR
ADD NEW OPERATOR
COLLATE RESULT
ADMIN HAVING ACCESS TO CENTRAL
DATABASE
MODIFY CENTRAL
DATABASE
RECTIFY SERVER
PROBLEMS
Fig 3.2 Use Case Diagram
3.5
Entity-Relationship Diagram
An entity relationship diagram (ERD) shows the relationships of entity sets stored in a database.
An entity in this context is an object, a component of data. An entity set is a collection of similar
entities. These entities can have attributes that define its properties.
20
By defining the entities, their attributes, and showing the relationships between them, an ER
diagram illustrates the logical structure of databases.
ER diagrams are used to sketch out the design of a database. Fig. 3.3 shows the ERD diagram
Fig 3.3 ER Diagram
3.6
Database Design
The database management system chosen for this project is MySQL. MySQL is a popular
relational database management system that is embraced by many larger websites like twitter and
Facebook, due to its ability of handling large set of data. MySQL is also very secure.
21
Table 3.1 administrator
Field Name
Type
id
int (11)
name
varchar(45)
username
varchar(45)
password
varchar(45)
Null
Extra
Unique
AUTO_INCREMENT YES
YES
Table 3.2 wards
Field Name
Type
id
int (11)
ward
varchar(100)
numbeOfPU
int (11)
Null
Extra
Unique
AUTO INCREMENT YES
Table 3.3 pollingsunits
Field Name
Type
id
int (11)
puName
varchar(100)
Null
Extra
Unique
AUTO INCREMENT YES
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registeredVoters
int (11)
accreditedVoters
int (11)
votesCasted
Int(11)
Table 3.3 votespolled
Field Name
Type
Null
id
int (11)
ward
varchar(60)
pollimgunit
varchar(60)
party
varchar(10)
votesWon
int (11)
Extra
Unique
AUTO INCREMENT YES
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
4.1
INTRODUCTION
The proposed Election Result Collation System analyzed and designed in the preceding chapter
will be implemented in this very chapter. The interfaces designed for all the form that operators
will be interacting with will be shown and explained, and every detailed information will also be
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discussed. The System was designed with Visual Studio 2013 with C# as the programming
Language of choice.
4.2
OPERATOR INTERFACE
The election result collation system interface as I said earlier was designed with Visual Studio
2013, with Windows Form Designer as the tool used to design all the interfaces.
4.2.1 Homepage
Fig 4.1 shows the first interface that will be shown when the election result collation system is
started.
Fig 4.1 Homepage
4.2.2 Login
When the user click Login, a login form will be displayed with textboxes for entering username
and password, and selecting his role of either presiding officer or collation officer, this is the
gateway to the restricted parts of the election result collation system, hence the need for
authenticating users. Fig 4.2.show the login form
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Fig 4.2 Login
4.2.3 Inserting Ward
This is the form that enable the system operator insert the ward in which the result will be
collated, the number of polling units in the ward and the number of parties that participated in the
election will also be inserted here. Fig. 4.3 Shows the Form
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Fig. 4.3 Form for Inserting Wards
4.2.4 Inserting Parties
After Inserting The ward name, the number of polling units and the number of parties that
participated in the election, another form will be displayed that will let the operator insert the
name of the parties, the text boxes to insert the parties in this form are dynamically generated
from the number of parties the operator insert from the previous form. Fig. 4.4 Show the form for
inserting parties
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Fig. 4.4 Form for Inserting Parties
4.2.5 Polling Unit Collation
After the operator has inserted the parties and clicked next, another form will be shown. It is on
this form that actual polling unit collation takes place. The operator will insert the polling unit
name, the number of registered voters in the polling unit, the number of accredited voters and the
number of votes casted. Afterwards, the operator will insert votes won by each party in the
polling unit, and click next. After clicking next, the data will be sent to the central database and
the form input fields will be emptied and the data for the next polling unit will be inserted, the
process will continue until all the polling units under the ward have been collated and sent to the
database. This form also ensure data consistency, that is all the entries must be valid, for
instance, the accredited voters cannot exceed the number of registered voters, or the total number
of votes casted to exceed the of accredited voters, the system will not accept such inputs, Fig 4.5
Shows the Form
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Fig 4.5 Polling Unit Collation
4.2.6 Result
This form is of two kinds, the one that is displayed to presiding officers is different from the one
that will be displayed to collation officers, the forms just display the result in tabular form, they
is show in Fig. 4.6 and 4.7
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Fig. 4.6 Result Sheet 1
Fig. 4.6 Result Sheet 2
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4.3
DATABASE
The Central Database is designed and developed using MySQL database management System as
discussed in chapter 3. Fig. 4.7 shows the database viewed from MySQL Workbench.
Fig. 4.7 Database Viewed From MySQL Workbench
4.4
SYSTEM REQUIREMENT
The system doesn’t require strict system requirements either for software or hardware parts
of computer system. The Requirements are listed below
 A Computer Running Microsoft Windows
 .NET Framework Version 4.0
 MySQL database
 Visual Studio
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4.5
VISUAL STUDIO
Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) developed by Microsoft. The
IDE came with the .NET Framework and the C# Language which is the main programming
language used in developing this system. The Visual Studio IDE allow for faster program
development and debugging, 2013 Version of the IDE is used in developing the system.. Fig 4.8
Show the Start Page of the Visual Studio 2013 IDE.
Fig. 4.8 Visual Studio 2013 IDE
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CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
5.1
SUMMARY
My project research and development is the creation of Election Result Collation by
Presiding Officers and Collation Officers. The system attempt to harmonize result handover by
presiding officers to their collations officers, this is ensured by the system not accepting any
inflated numbers that do not agree with themselves. Finally the collated results are shown in
tabular form.
The power of the Microsoft .NET is harnessed to realized the proposed project research,
C# using Visual Studio 2013 were specifically used in conjunction with MySQL as the system
database.
5.2
RECOMMENDATION
The system has been designed to be very secure and highly usable, with an interface that can be
operated by virtually anyone. However, I would like to make some recommendations to anyone
willing to further this research and improve upon my work. I would like to recommend that

The System to be made compatible with mobile operating systems.

The implementation to be made to cover state collation and national collation.

That the distributed nature of the system be tested with different computing devices and
operating systems.
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5.3
CONCLUSION
Computer has become integral to our daily lives, hence the need to embrace the change that
comes with it, which is adopting information technology to our activities that are traditionally
not associated with computing. Expert have made predictions that in the near future virtually
everything will be connected to the internet. The Process of election collation has been very
volatile and marred with irregularities and inconsistencies, however my system was designed and
developed spastically to address that.
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