The manual voting system in Moi University might be a thing of the past if the university administration approves the electronic voting system. The system, first developed by Kelvin Mokumbu a computer student in 2010, was awarded second prize in the TSA expo of the same year. Despite its success, the system faced some challenges as it used paper.
This year, a team of five engineering students led by Mr. Saro Kadhuwa, a computer engineering student have come up with a new version of the voting system. Unlike the first one, the new one is quite efficient as it has no paper.
How it works
The system is facilitated by a server and wireless connectivity. One has to register in the system in order to vote. However in a situation where the university administration has all the details of all students, the registration is automatic. The system also provides room for registration of a voter on the voting day if his or her name is missing on the register.
A voter is given a secret password generated by the program which he/she will use to vote. Voting can be done at the schools with students in different years voting separately. A voter can take a maximum of a minute to vote and immediately the results are displayed on both the projected voting screen at the school, as well as the main tallying centre at the students’ centre.
The group has also hinted that another option could be one main voting centre served by central server, but with separate schools. On whether the system will allow extension of usual voting time (8am -5pm), the group exuded confidence that it cannot be a major challenge as the program can be adjusted and that there will be no congestion. At the end of voting, the system will display the results automatically depending on the Electoral Commission’s decision on allowance of time for signing of papers by the aspirants.
Moi University Main Campus has a population of 16,000 students. However, statistics have shown that during MUSO elections, only 20% of them vote due to manual voting process and congestion. During the recent TSA elections which used the same electronic voting system, it registered a 70% voter turnout. Talks are under way on how the system will be used in forthcoming MUSO elections. The group also plans to use this voting system as a prototype for other system integration.
If the University adopts the system, it will be a first for a Kenyan public university. Moi University has been a gold mine of innovation and creativity. Safaricom’s M-Pesa, for instance, was an innovation by an engineering student from the University.
The system is facilitated by a server and wireless connectivity. One has to register in the system in order to vote. However in a situation where the university administration has all the details of all students, the registration is automatic. The system also provides room for registration of a voter on the voting day if his or her name is missing on the register.
A voter is given a secret password generated by the program which he/she will use to vote. Voting can be done at the schools with students in different years voting separately. A voter can take a maximum of a minute to vote and immediately the results are displayed on both the projected voting screen at the school, as well as the main tallying centre at the students’ centre.
The group has also hinted that another option could be one main voting centre served by central server, but with separate schools. On whether the system will allow extension of usual voting time (8am -5pm), the group exuded confidence that it cannot be a major challenge as the program can be adjusted and that there will be no congestion. At the end of voting, the system will display the results automatically depending on the Electoral Commission’s decision on allowance of time for signing of papers by the aspirants.
Moi University Main Campus has a population of 16,000 students. However, statistics have shown that during MUSO elections, only 20% of them vote due to manual voting process and congestion. During the recent TSA elections which used the same electronic voting system, it registered a 70% voter turnout. Talks are under way on how the system will be used in forthcoming MUSO elections. The group also plans to use this voting system as a prototype for other system integration.
If the University adopts the system, it will be a first for a Kenyan public university. Moi University has been a gold mine of innovation and creativity. Safaricom’s M-Pesa, for instance, was an innovation by an engineering student from the University.
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