Automated Student Council Voting System

Chapter 1

Background of the Study

Voting and elections are essential components of every consensus-based democracy. They're among the most
important aspects of democracy. Several voting methods have been implemented by all countries.all around the
world, each with their own unique issues. The manual election process still dominates both developed and
developing countries, but with the idea of using an electronic substitute with the intention of exhibiting the short
comings. Additionally, given the growing interest in and focus on e-government Initiatives for e-voting, e-
democracy, and e-governance have grown in importance. Thus, several e-voting models and methods are being
tested in numerous nations to enable multinational organizations are creating standards and allowing worldwide
vote, suggestions in this regard.

In recent years, educational institutions have seen a growing interest in leveraging technology to streamline
administrative processes, enhance student engagement, and promote democratic participation. One such area of
interest is the development of Automated Student Council Voting Systems (ASCVS), which aim to replace
traditional paper-based voting methods with digital platforms.

Online voting offers convenience to the voter and considerable ease to election administrators as they can get
election results out more quickly than conventional methods of manual voting (G.O. Ofori-Dwumfuo E. Paatey,
2011). Midwest College is one of competitive school at Marinduque. Last year, S. Y 2022-2023 Midwest
College conducted a online voting through messenger poll. According to journal Digital Culture and Education
4 (3): pp. 213-225., authored by Allen, Mathew, Facebook is as natural to education as the commute, the
computer, and everything else which students ‘bring’. Facebook affords, by way of its design and use, for
online communication and networking, demonstrating the central role of reciprocal acts of attention exchange in
this system. Additionally, poll is a one of featured in messenger. The result of having an online voting to
messenger is that there’s no privacy of who you are voting. In 2016, EPIC published The Secret Ballot at Risk:
Recommendations for Protecting Democracy to highlight the prevalence of secret ballot protections nationwide
and how internet voting threatens voter privacy. Additionally, if the others foresee that who had a high rate of
voting, the others just joined without serious intention.

While this school year Midwest College used appointing voting system. We observed that Midwest
College had no specific platform voting system that’s why this study, the Researcher’s goal in this study is to
develop and create a fast, accurate, and accessible computer-based-class voting system for the School’s
Administration, Instructors, Students, and the school as a whole, that will provide an organization and upgraded
voting system. Since we are now used to technology, we researchers advise to the innovative ing manual voting
system in Marinduque Midwest College to the utmost.

The Objective of the Study

This study aims to develop the Automated Election System that will:

 Analyze the existing system

 Asses the system in terms of operational and technical feasibility
 Design and develop a system that shows Accuracy, which is important for data input of voters and
candidates, casting and tallying of votes, and presenting of results; Security and Authentication,
which establishes the data and system's accessibility to users.
 Test and validate the system based on the requirements acquired.

Significance of the Study

Student Council Automated Election can benefit the following:

Institution - because volumes of paper and human effort can lessen canvassing the votes and electoral
fraud will be eliminated.

Instructors - because there is no hassle for them to assign in every precinct as a

Election committee.

Students - because their time in voting will be less and they will be assured that their votes are counted.
Likewise, they can easily know the result of the election.

Candidates – because their votes will be secured and minimize errors such as writing their names in the
wrong position.

Researcher - because it can help them as a guide to enhance more from their future thesis

Scope and Limitation

The proposed system includes login for the administrator and login for the students. The Admin has the
only rights to access the administration area and is authorized to access the transaction such as adding, editing,
and deleting information inside the system. The students will log in as voters. The system is designed with a
user security access level and it is responsible for determining the authenticity of the voter by his/her given
student id number and password. The student that officially registered as a voter can only vote once. The system
would be responsible for counting the votes and can release required reports regarding the list of voters,
candidates, and canvassing of results. Candidate records after the election will be saved and can be manually
deleted by the administrator. The researchers will use the programming language PHP because PHP is a more
simple and more user-friendly programming application software that can be easily understood by the
beneficiary.

The system is designed solely for the student council college department election of Marinduque Midwest
College. It is not applicable in other student council elections because the running positions were not the same.

Developing an
Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

The review of related literature for this thesis involves local and foreign literature either in books, previous
school lessons, websites and other forms of media that helps us formulate in analy5in& the system that is fitted
for the school and its students' the review focuses on a number of different literatures that is related in the
system' It helps us get ideas and it became the researchers basis on how to start the documents to analyze the
current voting system of Marinduque Midwest College, College Department.

College Student Council Voting System for Pangasinan State University Bayambang-Campus

(Cayabyab, 2008)

the College Student Council Voting System was software designed primarily for developing election
applications' It has simple software, because it managed to secure the ballots and performed quick
counterbalance' It assigned to take us through the novice user of the proposed system and it is designed as user
friendly environment to /no. abruptly the command or syntax of the software and user will have not to invest
their time and effort to learn it.

Lucky 3 Voting System Mindanao State University

(Enchavez, Garay, Ratunil 2010)

their voting system is composed of a well secured and user-friendly system that makes their Student Council
reliable.
Their system creates a more level playing field for political parties their candidates and it even gives a chance
for independent candidates to take on veteran players, this ultimately leads to a more dynamic and vibrant
student politics in Mindanao State University.

Inocencio V. Ferrer Memorial School of Fisheries Automated Voting System

Their voting & system is seemingly simple, and its advantages scream out at you. it implemented without
hitches, it allows for fast, virtually instantaneous bulation of votes.

The Implementation of an Electronic Voting System for Supreme Student Council in the State
College" by Marvin A. Lopera and Norlyn G. Maquiling (2023)

This study reviewed the literature on electronic voting systems and identified the factors that affect the success
of such systems. The study also implemented an electronic voting system for the supreme student council
elections in the State College of Zamboanga del Sur.

"A mobile web based electronic voting system: a case study of Strathmore University student council" by
Edwin Muchiri (2017).

This study reviewed the literature on electronic voting systems and identified the security challenges that need
to be addressed. The study also proposed a mobile web based electronic voting system for Strathmore
University student council elections.

"A Mobile-based Student Council Voting System Case of Federal Technical Institute (FTI)" by Gemeda
Girma Teresa (2021).

This study reviewed the literature on automated student council voting systems and identified the advantages
and disadvantages of different approaches. The study also proposed a mobile-based student council voting
system that addresses the limitations of existing systems

University of Leeds Electronic Voting System

http://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/online_resources/evoting/

The main advantage of interactive voting & is that it supports instantaneous, anonymous as well as known
interaction between the presenter and the audience ss a result, lectures become livelier, the presenter can easily
stay aware of how well the audience has &rasped the ideas he or she has been communicating, and both the
presenter and the audience can receive instant feedback from each other.
The e-voting system most widely available at the University of Leeds currently is produced by Instruction.
Their system used to be called InterWrite PRS (Personal Response System), but they upgrade their system into
a more advance version.

Trent University ayePoll On-Line Voting System

SoftworksDev Engineering Team

(Bila, Cakalli, Harrington, Harrington, Rosco 2005)

It is a web-based system that facilitates the running of elections and surveys online. This system has been
developed by SoftworksDev to simplify the process of organizing elections and make it convenient for voters to
voter motely from their home computers while taking into consideration security, anonymity and providing
auditioning capabilities. The voting system presented above provided the proponents the idea of facilities that a
voting system can have.

LSA Elections Computerized Voting System India

(Tantia, Agrawal 2008)

the council elections are carried out in a much smoother and modern way. They saved on time, effort, paper and
whole lot of sweat. This was the first time in India that such a thing as done, and while being modern and user-
friendly, it was also ecofriendly as it saved a lot of paper that would have been used up as ballot paper.

Direct Recording Electronic voting

Haupt (2008) described a different voting process that could be considered “electronic voting”. According to
Haupt there exists a paper-based system that uses computers to count the actual ballots; however, the original
paper ballot is still intact. Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting is a voting machine that does not use a
paper ballot like the paper based electronic voting machines. Instead, people choose their candidates and
proposals through an electronic screen, either through buttons or through a more modern approach, touch
screen. DRE voting machines also have the advantage of never running out of paper ballots at a polling center,
since the computer can count an unlimited number of ballots.

Synthesis

Overall, these studies demonstrate the growing interest in and use of Automated voting systems for student
council elections and highlight the potential benefits and challenges of these systems for improving the electoral
process.
An automated student council voting system is a technology-based approach that simplifies electing student
leaders in educational institutions. It replaces the traditional manual voting system, which involves time-
consuming and often inefficient manual processes such as printing ballots, checking voter eligibility, counting
votes, and tallying results. In this review of related literature and studies, we will explore the benefits,
challenges, and factors that affect the adoption and effectiveness of automated student council voting systems.

Conceptual Framework

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Voters’ Username & Log in Voters Dashboard

Password

Submit Vote submitted & log out

Select Candidates
Admin Username & Password Log in Admin Dashboard

Add Candidates Save Entry Candidate Added

Add Voters Save Voter Added

Partial Number of Votes Processing the total number of The final number of votes
votes
 Chapter 3

Methodology

A methodology will consist of phases, themselves consisting of subphases, which will guide the systems
developers in their choice of techniques that might be appropriate at each stage of the project and also help them
plan, manage, control and evaluate research. It is usually based on some philosophical view. Methodology can
regard as a generalized description of the activities of a series of design projects, together with a theory that
explains why those projects were successful, and it may be seen as an abstraction from good practice. A
methodology is usually presented not as a description but as a prescription, a recommendation that projects
should follow the generalized task structure.
thus, methodology used to achieve the study will be presented which comprises of the procedures, data
collection and tools necessary in developing the proposed system.

User-case Diagram (Existing System)

Nomination of Candidate

The administrator of the election

Counting the votes

Student Former
Officer
Announcement of winner
According to the present system's use case diagram, students from each department in the college will select
their candidates and forward them to the group chat that will be utilized for polling.
User-case Diagram (Proposed System)

Maintenance

Log-in/Sign up

Viewing of Candidates

Voting Process
Student Admin

Report

In the User case diagram of the Proposed System the student and admin will log in to the system and the
student will create an account to enter the voting page of the system after voting they will submit it using the
submit button.

It shows how the developer develops the system from analysis to the development of the system. The
admin is the person who takes care of conducting the elections by declaring the election details and declaring
the results. The admin will login as administrator to access candidate details and student details.
Admin has the authority to administer transaction such as adding, editing, deleting and saving of
information of the student and the running candidates. The students a member of the organization who
participates in the election by casting his/her votes. Students can login only if they were already registered. The
given Account number will be their username and their password. After the voters log in, the student may now
proceed to voting page.
He/she can select the name of his/her chosen candidate. After the voting process the administrator will
collect the total result of votes and print it. The admin may now logout after all the transaction is done.
 Both student and Administrator and also other member of faculty may view the result of the winning
candidates.

Requirements Analysis and Documentation

The proposed system is “Electronic Voting System”, an application that enables users to vote using a computer.
The VOTING SYSTEM application will enable users to interactively choose their candidate and cast their vote
using a mouse-based GUI.

The completion of the software depends upon meeting the following goals and objectives:

1. Provide voting software that is fully accessible through Local Area Network (LAN) of the school.
2. Provide a direct recording voting system where voters view ballots on a computer monitor and makes
choices using an input device.
3. Provide results of the election that is fast, reliable and accurate.

4. Provide help guide feature to guide voters on how to use the system.

System Functionality

VOTING SYSTEM Administrator – One of the features of VOTING SYSTEM is the log-in and log-out
services which require users to enter user id and password. It has a database that can be updated and
maintained by the admin. The administrator is the only authorized user of the system who can generate
results and tally of votes from the system.

VOTING SYSTEM Voter – The student voters are prompt by the system to enter their user id and
password. Voters can choose their candidate and cast their votes automatically by a click of a button.

Project Plan

Before the software project is implemented, the researchers will prepare a project schedule that identifies the
anticipated activities involved, management of resources and project plans showing the cost needed in the
development of the voting system.

Design of Software and Process

Based on the result of the observation and interview as well as users suggestions the researchers created a
design for the system to be developed. All the requirements of the first phase are being used to contribute in the
successful preparation of creating the Automated Student Council Voting System for college students. It also
includes the Data Flow Diagram, DFD Explosion for teachers and students, and Entity Relationship Diagram of
the developed system.

Development and Testing

The researchers will use the Modified Waterfall Model in developing the VOTING SYSTEM. In this
methodology, the software evolved as a result of shared information between the respondents and the
researchers.

Testing will exercise the system in all possible ways. It includes initial testing and final testing of the new
software. The electronic voting systems, including equipment and software, should be tested prior to the
deployment of to help ensure that the system works as expected.

Requirements Definition Phase

During the Requirements Definition Phase, the researchers together with the beneficiary of the proposed system
will work together to establish the architectural boundaries for the project, to establish criteria for measuring the
technical performance of the system, and to baseline the requirements. Activities in this phase are the following:
define system requirements, develop system process model, and develop application logical data model,
estimate system workload, and Identify strategies for training end users.

Software Requirements
 Xammp

 PHP

 Mysql

 Microsoft Windows 7 up

Hardware Requirements

 Pentium IV and above.

 Keyboard
 Mouse
 Monitor

Software Developers:

 Project Manager – Supervises and monitors the entire project activities and its development.
  System Analyst – Responsible for researching, planning and recommending software and system
choices to meet an organization’s business requirements.
 Programmer – Creates the source codes for the development of proposed system. Must be expert with
the programming language to be used in the development of the system.
 Researchers – Further researchers on the content and other studies related to current system being
developed.

Recommended Users:

Back-end user:

 VOTING SYSTEM Administrator – In charge of maintaining and managing the table entries of files;
keeps the server up, running, and secure; keeps track of the log; updates the database, provides access to
authorized users of the system.

Front-end users:

 Students/Voters – One who have access to the computer-based voting system.

Implementation and Unit Testing Phase

This section will discuss the implementation plan and unit testing of the proposed system. This phase will also
discuss if the recommended functions and suggestions of the respondents and users are met.

The construction of the project is divided in modules/units and is first developed in small programs called units,
which are integrated in the next phase. Testing is one of the important phases of the VOTING SYSTEM
development. Testing will exercise the system in all possible ways to test it for potential errors and bugs. It
includes initial testing and final testing of the proposed electronic voting system. Each unit is developed and
tested for its functionality; this is referred to as Unit Testing. Unit testing mainly verifies if the modules/units
meet their specifications.

Integration and System Testing Phase

Integration and system testing is a type of software testing, this makes sure that tests such as the new system
and integration are done before releasing the software. Software testing has very strict set of rules and
guidelines that it follows to make sure each individual part of the software is thoroughly checked before it is
given the OK, this makes sure that there are no errors and that the software runs how it’s supposed to.
Integration and system testing will be done by the researchers and will focus on the software testing phase in the
system development life cycle.
Integration testing in the software testing model comes before system testing and after the unit testing has been
done.

System testing is simply testing the new software as a whole; it gets all the integrated modules of the various
components from the integration testing phase and combines all the different parts into a system which is then
tested. Testing is then done on the system as all the parts are now integrated into one system the testing phase
will now have to be done on the system to check and remove any errors or bugs.

Operation and Maintenance Phase

System operation includes user support to the end user or users which is an integral part of the election process
operations. The Dean of students (VOTING SYSTEM administrator) and the students (VOTING SYSTEM
voters) are the users of the proposed voting system. Users should receive training especially the VOTING
SYSTEM administrator. The EV admin could use the user’s manual or the help guide integrated into the newly
developed system.

Flow Chart

Start

Login

Yes NO Login as
Yes
Login as voter? Admin?

Yes
Yes
Proceed to Admin Page
Already
voted?
 Access Candidate Details
NO

Proceed to voting
page
Access Voters details

Vote

Print Result
NO
Submit?
e
Yes

Logout
Thank you for voting

End

Entity Relationship (ERD Diagram)

Admin

Username Password
1 1

Manages Manages

Position
 M M
id
Course
Voters 1 Votes 1 Candidate

Course
Candidate Num

Name
Course
Party List Name

ID

Normalization
Feasibility Study
Resources Needed
Available Resources for Project Development

Project Personnel
Software Developer No Action Needed
Database administrator
Equipment
Hardware
Laptop/Desktop Computer (64-bit operating
system, x64-based processor with at least 4GB
RAM and 120GB ROM memory) No Action Needed
Keyboard
Monitor
Mouse
Software
PHP
MySQL No Action Needed
Xampp
Browser (e.g. Chrome)

System Design
In this process, different information and data that help the proponents in creating the proposed system were
collected. The researchers gathered all possible requirements of the study to be developed. The researcher
obtained references from the thesis, and online articles to support the study.
The information gathered was analyzed to create the target for the outcome of the system.
1. User Interface: The system should have a user-friendly and intuitive interface to enable students to
easily navigate and cast their votes. The interface should display the candidates' names and positions, as
well as their photos, and allow the students to make their selections by clicking or tapping on the
candidate's name.
2. Database: The system should have a database that stores the student's voting information and the
candidate's details. The database should be secure, scalable, and able to handle a large volume of data. It
should also be designed to prevent any data discrepancies or inconsistencies.
3. Security: The system should be designed with strong security features to prevent unauthorized access
and ensure data confidentiality. It should have user authentication and encryption protocols to prevent
hacking and tampering with the system.
4. Real-Time Vote Counting: The system should have real-time vote counting capabilities, allowing
students to see the election results as they are being counted. This increases transparency and encourages
student engagement in the voting process.
5. Integration: The system should be integrated with other school systems, such as the student information
system (SIS), to ensure that student data is up-to-date and accurate. The system should also be integrated
with social media platforms to encourage student engagement and promote the election.
6. Audit Trail: The system should have an audit trail that records all voting activities, including user login,
vote casting, and vote counting. This ensures transparency and accountability and allows for easy
investigation in case of any disputes.
System Operating and Testing Procedures
Test Case: Student Voters Registration
 Description: The voting system checks that only eligible voters are allowed to cast their votes.
 Input: Student ID#, Student Name
 Expected Output: The voting system confirms the eligibility of the voter and allows them to cast their
vote.

Test Case: Login Functionality

 Description: Verify that both students and administrators can log in to the system and access their
respective dashboards.

Test Steps:

 Navigate to the login page.

 Enter a valid username and password for a registered student.
 Click the "Login" button.
 Verify that the system redirects to the student dashboard.
 Log out of the student account.
 Navigate to the admin login page.
 Enter a valid admin username and password.
 Click the "Login" button.
 Verify that the system redirects to the admin dashboard.
 Expected Results:
 The login page should be displayed.
 The student should enter their correct username and password.
 The system should verify the username and password and grant access to the student account.
 The system should redirect the student to the student dashboard after a successful login.
 The student should log out of the system.
 The admin login page should be displayed.
 The administrator should enter their correct username and password.
 The system should verify the admin credentials and grant access to the admin dashboard.
 The system should redirect the admin to the admin dashboard after a successful login.
 The system should display an error message and prompt the user to try again.

1. Test Case: Valid vote

 Description: A student casts a valid vote for their preferred candidate.

 Input: The student selects a candidate and submits their vote.
 Expected Output: The vote is recorded and added to the total vote count for the selected candidate.

2. Test Case: Invalid vote

 Description: A student tries to cast an invalid vote (e.g., by selecting multiple candidates or submitting a
blank vote).
 Input: The student selects multiple candidates or submits a blank vote.
 Expected Output: The voting system detects the invalid vote and prompts the student to correct their
vote.

3. Test Case: Double voting

  Description: A student attempts to vote more than once.
 Input: A student casts a vote for a candidate, then tries to vote again for the same or a different
candidate.
 Expected Output: The voting system detects the double vote and prevents the student from casting
another vote.

4. Test Case: Candidate Tie

 Description: Two or more candidates receive an equal number of votes.

 Input: Students cast their votes, resulting in a tie between two or more candidates.
 Expected Output: The voting system detects the tie and triggers a tie-breaking mechanism (e.g., revote,
coin toss, etc.).

5. Test Case: Results Display

 Description: The voting results are displayed to the students and faculty.
 Input: Faculty or students request to view the voting results.
 Expected Output: The voting system displays the results in a clear and easy-to-understand format,
showing the total number of votes for each candidate and indicating the winner of the election.

Table 1. Operating and Testing Procedures

Procedure Process Behavior
- Admin should enter their If the username and password
Admin username and password. msg box ”Login Successfully”

Student The student should register their Else msgbox “Incorrect

account and log in with their username or password” Then
username and password. enter again

Homepage View all candidates This will allow everyone to see

the list of the candidates and
position their running.

Admin has full control of the

system
Student Students must pick a candidate This will allow students to vote
 for every position. And click and submit their votes.
Submit
Else msgbox”Voting Else mgsbox “you must pick a
Incomplete” candidate in every position”
Admin Add, Delite, Update the admin has full control of the
voting system except for voting
and deleting votes
 Data Flow Diagram
1st Normal Form
Stdnt_Name Stdnt_Course Acc_Name Acc_Pass Acc_Num Candidate_Num

Candidate_Nam Candidate_Pos Candidate_Party Ballot_name Ballot_Num

e

2nd Normal Form

Stdnt_tbl
Stdnt_ID Stdnt_Course Stdnt_Name Account_Num
Acc_tbl
Acc_Num Acc_Name Acc_Pass
Candidate_tbl
Candidate_Num Candidate_Name Candidate_Pos
Party_tbl
Party_Num Party_Name Candidate_Num
Ballot _tbl
Ballot_Num Ballot_Name

References:

Ofori-Dwumfuo G.O, Paatey E,2011. The Design of an Electronic Voting System.

3(2): 91-98, 2011.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/G-Ofori-Dwumfuo/publication/268287879_The_Design_of
_an_Electronic_Voting_System/links/54eb7c3a0cf2082851bdfed4/The-Design-of-an-Electronic-
Voting-System.pdf
 Allen, Matthew. 2012. An Education in Facebook. Digital Culture and Education 4
(3): pp. 213-225. https://espace.curtin.edu.au/handle/20.500.11937/12096
2022.Epic Org. https://epic.org/issues/democracy-free-speech/voter-privacy/