Page |1

Electronics Voting Machine (EVM)

 Page |2

The electronic voting machine- an electronic miracle

The elaboration of EVM is Electronic Voting Machine. It retains all the characteristics that the
voting by ballot paper has. This EVM makes the polling a lot more expedient. It has a reputation
for saving money, time and manpower because of its easy mechanism any other special features.
It is reliable because of its voting secrecy without the use of ballot papers. The EVM has the
ability to avoid tamper and at the end of the polling the results can be published just by the
pressing of single button. A Voting machine is the combination of electromechanical,
mechanical or electronic equipment which includes its software, firmware and the required
documentation to program control and supported equipment which is used to count and cast
votes, defined ballots, to display or report election result and to produce and maintain audit trail
information. This machine is able to provide the voter immediate feedback such possible
problem as over voting or under voting which will result in a spoiled ballot. This machine has
different levels of security, usability, accuracy and efficiency. The first voting machine made
was mechanical. Now the most common machine use is electronic. Certain machines may be
more or less accessible for voters. The Chartists were a political and social reform movement in
the United Kingdom. They were the ones who had made the first proposal for the usage of vote
machines in 1838.

In 1985, there was an implementation of a computerized election database by the Superior Electoral
Court, while the electronic voting machine as conceived today was only developed in 1995 and first used
in municipal elections the following year. But it was in 1989, in Brusque (SC), where Judge Carlos
Prudencio held the first voting experience with micro-computers.

In preparing the project of electronic voting machines in 1995, the TSE has formed a technical
committee led by researchers at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and the
Aerospace Technical Center (CTA) in São José dos Campos, which defined a specification of
functional requirements.
The first name of the electronic voting machine was "collector of electronic votes" (CEV). The
machine had the purpose of identifying alternatives to automate the voting process and define the
measures necessary for its implementation, starting from the 1996 elections in over 50
municipalities.
The equipment, responsible for 100% of the automation of the elections, was then released in
Brazil in 1996 and today serves as a model for many other countries that have tested the ability
of the machine for the implementation of their electoral processes.
In March 2009, the TSE received a technology award for the contribution in the development of
electronic voting machines. The award was the result of a partnership between the University of
São Paulo (USP), the George Washington University and the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
The BSA is an organization that brings together institutions and companies in the area of
 Page |3

information technology and promotes the event to highlight ideas that are unprecedented in the
world.

Description
The EVM is considered effective tool for voting nowadays. It has the ability to provide flawless
voting environment which is one of the reasons for its spread. It gives assurance to the people
that their vote is safe. Any kind of malpractice and invalid votes are avoided by such technology.
This system is also beneficial economically because it saves manpower. It has no complexities as
just press of one key is needed to vote a candidate.

Voting machine is not just a single part of a machine. It is the combination of mechanical,
electromechanical also including software, firmware and documentation required to program
control. This voting machine is used to define ballots, to cast and count votes, to report or display
election results and to maintain and produce any audit trail information. Earlier the voting
machines were mechanical. But it is now becoming more common to use electronic voting
machine.

Traditionally voting machine has been defined by the mechanism the system uses to cast votes.

Voting machines have different levels of usability, security, efficiency and accuracy which
means certain systems may be more of less accessible to all voters or not accessible to those
voters with certain types of disabilities. The public ability may have come under the effect of
voting machines to oversee election.

Besides there are two types of Electronic voting which can be identified as: e-voting which is
supervised physically by independent electoral authorities or governmental representatives like
the machines at polling stations and Remote electronic voting is where the vote is not physically
supervised by government or independent representatives like voting from a personal computer,
mobile phone or television via the internet also known as i-voting.

Tools used
Two types of tools are used here. One is hardware tool and another one is software tool. These
two tools are very important for this voting machine to run. These tools are discussed in the
below for better explanation.

Hardware tools:

The control unit: in total control of the polling

This unit has more than a single task to do. This unit conducts the poll, displays the total votes,
seals at the end of the poll and declares the results thus it does complete its multi task. This
 Page |4

electronic unit gives all the information which is related to the poll at a press of a few buttons.
This unit stays in front of the table of an assistant presiding officer in a poll. If anyone wants to
know the total numbers of votes then the total switch button needs to be pressed thus the result
will come out.

The ballot unit: an electronic ballot box

This unit belongs to the inside of a booth. It is a simple voting device which displays the list of
candidates and symbols. By pressing the desired switch next to the name of each candidate any
voter can cast his/her own vote. To use it doesn’t require any training at all. A single ballot unit
can contain maximum 16 candidates and in this way by connecting 4 ballot units the EVM can
accommodate a total of 64 candidates in a single election.

Software tools:
mikroC PRO

Software developers face some complex problems to solve but this mikroC PRO software
PIC16f877A is development tools are design to solve such complex problems.

 In any project before starting it, simply the select the microcontroller from a device
database and then the µ Vision IDE sets all the compiler, assembler, and linker and
memory options for you.
 Page |5

 To help you get started with the most popular embedded PIC16f877A devices numerous
example programs are included.
 The mikroC PRO Debugger accurately simulates on-chip peripherals of your
PIC16f877A device which helps understand the configurations of hardware and relieve
you from time consuming set up problems. With simulation anyone can write and test
applications before target hardware is available.

Proteus software

Prtoeus7.0 is a Virtual System Modeling (VSM) that combines circuit simulation, animated
components and microprocessor models to co-simulate the complete microcontroller based
designs. So this is the perfect tool for engineers to test their microcontroller designs before
constructing a physical prototype in real time. This program allows users to interact with the
design using on-screen indicators and LED and LCD displays and one attached to the pc,
switches and buttons.

Description in detail
 Page |6

Electronic voting machine is effective than the conventional voting i.e. the manual voting
process. People want their vote to be secured. This electronic voting machine technology helps
from preventing tamper of any kind in poll. The buttons used here are easy to handle and anyone
can cast their vote using this electronic voting machine without any difficulties. It has four main
blocks and with these blocks it regulates its’ function. These main blocks are – keypad, micro
controller, display and control switches.

Keypad: it has keys which are selected for each candidate in the poll. This keypad block is not
only used in voting mode but also counting mode. If a key is pressed for a candidate in voting
mode then the signal can be identified by the microcontroller. When it comes for voting a
candidate these keypads are used and when the result of the votes needs to be published that time
this keypad is used. This keypad is primarily for operating EVM system.

Micro controller: it work is to send and sense signal which comes from a key. It decides
whether the signal is for voting mode or counting mode. If the signal is for voting mode it turns
on the voting mode and if the signal is for counting mode it turns on counting mode. In voting
system it increments the data for corresponding key i.e. respective candidate as well as it sends
signal to display block to indicate that one key has already been pressed. In counting mode it
fetches the data from memory area and then sends it to display devices. This counting mood
operation transpires generally after a poll.

LCD: the elaboration of LCD is Liquid Crystal Display. It is alphanumeric display. It can
display alphabets numbers even special symbols for a viewer. So it is evident that this LCD
display is a user friendly display. It can be used for displaying various messages unlike seven
segment display which can display only numbers and some of the alphabets. The only
disadvantages of LCD over seven segment is that seven segment is robust display and be
visualized from a longer distance as compared to LCD. Here I have used 20*4 alphanumeric
display which means on this display I can display 4 lines with maximum of 20 characters in one
line.

LED: elaboration of this LED is light emitting diode. It is a semi-conductor light source. In
many devices it is used as indicator lamps besides nowadays it is being used as other lighting.
They are typically used outdoors in store signs and bill boards, and in recent years have also
become commonly used in destination signs on public transport vehicles. LED panels are
sometimes used as form of lighting, for the purpose of general illumination, task lighting, or even
stage lighting rather than display.

Control switches: these control switches are paced at the opposite site of EVM. These 3 controls
are-

 Clear votes
 Controller switch
 Total votes
 Page |7

Operation or implementation of this project

Power on: when everything is supplied to the EVM it requires then the RED LED glows. It
helps to identify whether the EVM is ready to work properly or not. If electricity and other
equipment are in order according to their assigned position then the power light will glow which
indicates EVM is ready for casting vote in polling area.

Mode selection: in EVM system there are two kinds of voting modes. Each mode has its’ own
part to play. Function of each mode is different. Voting mode is for the voter to use i.e. to cast
vote and counting mode is for the authority to use i.e. to publish the number of votes after the
poll and counting mode is not for voters to use. These are given below-

Voting mode: toggle switch on VCC

Counting mode: toggle switch on GND

Voting mode: “please vote” will be appeared on the screen when toggle switch is in voting
mode. When a voter finishes casting his vote after that “please wait for authority switch” will be
noticed in the screen. Then the system will be again effective for voting after the voting authority
presses the Control Switch.

Counting mode: “counting mode” will be appeared on the screen when toggle switch is in
counting mode. If the total vote numbers need to be collected then the keys of the respective
candidates needs to be pressed after that vote numbers of each candidate will be appeared
gradually.

Clear mode: sometimes entries of EVM needs to be deleted which were proved in this system
earlier for test. So if this clear button is pressed then all entries will be swept out. Clear switch
button must be pressed before voting procedure take place.

Buzzer indication: in voting mode if any key is pressed then it will be indicated by a buzzer
sound. So that is becomes clear that a key has been pressed and none gets in confusion for
switching the key for twice.

Controller switch: this controller switch has very important part to play. It enables the keypad
in voting mode so that a voter can cast his own vote. So naturally this part is not for any random
person to use. This switch remains under the control of voting authority to avoid any kind of
tamper.

Advantages and applications

Advantages:
 Page |8

 It has economic benefit which is one of the advantages of this EVM project
 In polling area a lot of volunteer is required to conduct the whole polling system. But this
EVM requires few volunteer to conduct compared to conventional voting process.
 In manual voting there is a chance to give bribe to the agents of the voting area and or
any kind of tamper work to be transpired to cast more than one vote. But this EVM
system avoids invalid voting.
 This machine size is compact for anywhere to move which gives the advantage for saving
transportation cost.
 This EVM system is conducted by 12 volt battery which yields no chance for having any
shock.
 In the conventional voting system there are lots of difficulties in using ballot papers.
Ballot paper needs be folded and then cast into the ballot box. Some people get confused
to folded ballot paper properly and if the ballot paper is not folded correctly it turns out to
be wasted. Thus a vote loses its value and became a waste. But this EVM machine is easy
to use. Simply press of a key will cast the proper vote and there is no overlapping. So it is
convenient for the voters.

Application:

Conventional voting system faces lots of difficulties but this EVM reduces these difficulties and
make it easier for any voter to use. Besides it is safe and avoids invalid votes. This EVM can be
used anywhere where voting take place. This can be used in city or mayor election, school class
election, private organizational election, any labor or worker election, any local election, any
election which take place in the national arena or any international orb. This will help to hold a
free and fair election with least difficulties.

Conclusion and future work

Here specification and architecture of an Electronic Voting Machine has been described in detail
which makes easier for any person to understand this project.

Voting equipment is being sold by vendors nowadays which have closed-source nature. It means
vendors of voting equipment like to sell closed-source nature voting equipment as they think this
system is secured. They have been trying to maintain this for a long time. The reason of working
on the code is that there is little difference in the way code is developed for voting machine
relative to other commercial endeavors. I believe that open process would be result in more
careful development and more scientists, software engineers, political activists and others who
value their democracy should supported the software for open source for the betterment of an
election. It is not that open source will solve all problems of electronic elections but it is
 Page |9

important to verify that the binary program images running in the machine correspond to the
source code and that the compilers used on the source code are non-malicious. So to my opinion
open source is good start so far. This type of open source design process has proven successful in
projects and it was possible for much focused effort and through very large and complex systems
such as maintaining Linux operating system. Australia is currently using this open source voting
system technology. To preserve the bedrock or democracy it is necessary to have a robust, well
designed election system.

Besides In this EVM system a lot of reformation could be done. Such as finger print voting. A
user has to show his voter ID card whenever he goes to the polling booth to poll his vote. This is
a time consuming process as the person has to check the voter ID card with the list he has,
confirm it as an authorized card and then allow the person to poll his vote. Thus to avoid this
kind of problems , I feel the necessity of a finger print based voting machine where the person no
need to carry his ID which contains his entire details. The users no need to carry with him the
voter card. It is nothing but a finger print which stored the details of the person like the name of
the user, location of place, mobile number for contact etc. when the user is asked to show his
finger print, the finger print module reads the data present.

The person at the polling booth has to show his finger. This finger print reader will read the
details from the tag. Then this data will be passed to the controlling unit for the verification. The
controller will read the data from the reader and compare this data with the already existing data.
If the data matches with the already stored information, the person will be allowed to poll his
vote. If not, a message will be displayed on LCD and the person will not be allowed to poll his
vote and the security authorities can come and take the further action. The polling mechanism
will carry out manually using the switches. LCD will be used to display the related messages.

This finger print system can be used as a voting machine that can prevent rigging during the
elections in the polling booths.

Fast track voting which could be used in small scale elections, like resident welfare association,
“panchayat” level election and other society level elections.

It could also be used to conduct opinion polls during annual shareholders meeting.

It could also be used to conduct general assembly elections where number of candidates are less
than or equal to eight in the current situation.

Besides in the future a number of candidates could be increased.

It could be interfaced with printer to get the hard copy of the result almost instantly from the
machine itself.

It could also be interfaced with the personal computer and result could be stored in the central
server and its backup could be taken on the other backend servers.
 P a g e | 10

Again, once the result is on the server it could be relayed on the network to various offices of the
election conduction authority. Thus this project could make the result available any corner of the
world in a matter of seconds.

EVM system is being used in various spheres in different countries. But only in India and Brazil
this EVM system is used for the national election. Besides in the USA and Venezuela this EVM
is also used in a grand arena. A handful of faults were found in this EVM system when the
election in Holland took place so they quite this system. It is mentionable that the EVM system is
to limited to compare with the numbers of countries of the world and even in the developed
countries this EVM has not yet been activated with full circle. There are lots of questions on the
effectiveness of its security issues. In every EVM there is a program which adds a vote from a
voter to the total number of votes of a candidate. In the control of EVM there is a “one time
programmable (OTP)” chip. If a program is embedded for once then next time no program can
be inserted in this chip. If anyone involved with the election somehow changes the program
stealthily then it won’t be possible for presiding officer, assistant presiding officer, voter, polling
agent to detect this tamper.

Besides with the help of Bluetooth and the placing of a transmitter, the election result can be
changed which arranged with EVM. But in this case a Bluetooth or a transmitter needs to be set
in the control unit of the EVM at first. Result can be transformed from a distance without
Bluetooth or transmitter. Such as Van Eck Phreaking is a method by which even from a distance
of 40 meter the EVM can be controlled. Computer researcher Wim Van Eck from Holland
published a research paper in 1985 on this subject. In the EVM system the election result can be
seen on the display of control unit. What we see in this display is a kind of video image.
Information of vote creates one kind of oscillating electronic current which transforms into
electromagnetic radiation of radio frequency range. This electromagnetic radiation creates video
image in the display. So it is possible to know the result shown in the display from far distance
and to change the result by affecting high electromagnetic radiation with a special machine.
After the appearance of Van Eck Phreaking method no EVM is in use in Holland. EVM system
is very easy in the view of using by which vote can be counted quickly but, there is no chance to
recount the vote and EVM system is proved to be weak at many times to various types of
hacking systems. The election commission of india could administrate their work much
independently than our country therefore no question is raised of using the EVM in election.
How long the election commission of Bangladesh can administrate their work independently
without the influence of the administration is under much suspicion.

So I hope in future this security issues will be solved and an effective EVM will be active in use.

Moreover Arizona made transitional moves towards online voting. Each registered Democrat
received a personal identification number in the mail. These citizens had the option to either cast
ballots at a designated location or over the internet from the comfort of their own home. Voters
 P a g e | 11

voting over the internet were required to insert their PIN and answer two personal questions.
Once all the information is verified, they have the voting options.
Estonia has also made attempts to popularize internet voting. In Estonia, each voter has a
national ID card that they use to identify each citizen. The ID card is the security Estonia put in
to ensure reliability in votes. Security officials said that they did not detect any unusual activity
or tampering of the votes.
So alongside EVM and online voting can be developed in our country in future.
Nowadays Electronic vote has become more popular around the world. Some of the countries
which uses electronic and vote on line are: United States, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Belgium,
Germany, Romania, France, Venezuela, Philippines, The European Union, Switzerland, Italy,
Norway, Romania and United Kingdom. Electronic vote is very accessible for individuals with
disabilities. They have the ability to use joysticks, earphones, Sip and puff technology, foot
pedals, etc. These machines have touch screens which can display the information in several
languages and voting choices in audio for visual impaired voters. These features make voting
easier and comfortable for people with disabilities.
My EVM project is not that much rich which, means some particular persons with disabilities
may not be able to conduct it. My future plan is to develop this project so that a person with
disabilities may use it without any difficulties.
Besides I have a plan to make this EVM effective in multi-language. It can contain a huge
amount of information In future.

Code
sbit LCD_RS at RB4_bit;
sbit LCD_EN at RB5_bit;
sbit LCD_D4 at RB0_bit;
sbit LCD_D5 at RB1_bit;
sbit LCD_D6 at RB2_bit;
sbit LCD_D7 at RB3_bit;
sbit LCD_RS_Direction at TRISB4_bit;
sbit LCD_EN_Direction at TRISB5_bit;
sbit LCD_D4_Direction at TRISB6_bit;
sbit LCD_D5_Direction at TRISB1_bit;
sbit LCD_D6_Direction at TRISB2_bit;
sbit LCD_D7_Direction at TRISB3_bit;

char txt[7],txt1[7],txt2[7],txt3[7];

void main() {
 P a g e | 12

int a=0,b=0;
int c=0,d=0,e=0;
trisd=1;
portd=0;
trisc=0;
portc=0;

while(1)

Lcd_Init();
Lcd_Cmd(_LCD_CLEAR);
Lcd_Cmd(_LCD_CURSOR_OFF);
Lcd_Out(1,1,"press button");
Lcd_Out(2,1,"cast your vote");

while(portd==0)

{}

if (portd==0b00100000) {
e=1; }

while (e==1) {
Lcd_Cmd(_LCD_CLEAR);
Lcd_Out(1,1,"1: Shanjidul 2: Ikhtiar");
Lcd_Out(2,1,"3: Shajal 4: Shojib");
while(portd==0) { }

portc=0b00000001;
delay_ms(100);
portc=0b00000000;
Lcd_Out(2,1,"voting");

if (portd==0b00000001) {
a=a+1;
e=0; }

if (portd==0b00000010) {

b=b+1;
e=0; }
 P a g e | 13

if (portd==0b00000100) {
c=c+1;
e=0; }

if (portd==0b00001000) {
d=d+1;
e=0; }

if (portd==0b00010000) {
Lcd_Cmd(_LCD_CLEAR);
inttostr(a, txt);
inttostr(b, txt1);
inttostr(c, txt2);
inttostr(d, txt3);
delay_ms(500);
Lcd_out(1,"1:");
Lcd_out(1,txt);
Lcd_out(2,"3:");
Lcd_out(2,txt2);
delay_ms(2000);
Lcd_out(1,"2:");
Lcd_out(1,txt1);
Lcd_out(2,"4:");
Lcd_out(2,txt3); delay_ms(2000); }