E-government System and Online Voting System
Added on 2019-09-26
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E-GOVERNMENT SYSTEM ONLINE VOTING SYSTEMMohammad AlhawawshaAbstractE-government systems are meant to improve the level of interaction of government with the public and to improve the reach of services provided by the government to the public. A java based e-government system has been suggested in this paper that will allow the government to conduct online voting. It will ensure that the individuals vote from their preferred location and time without getting concerned about privacy and vote theft. Keyword: E-government system, election, java, technology1. IntroductionThe current paper is concerned with understanding the various aspects of e-government system. In addition, a new e-government system has been proposed that is likely to support the government in handling the election polling. E-government system refers to the use of electronic mediums to facilitate the services to the public of the country (Becker et al, 2004). The e-government system allows the citizen to engage with the government at all the levels and along with gaining benefit from the actions of the government, it contributes to the action of the government. With the use of e-government system, thecitizens involved in the local and national governance. The information and communication technology is used to facilitate these actions. As per United Nations, the e-government is referred to as the actions of the government that lead to the use of information technology to facilitate the delivery of government services to the citizens (Gil-Garcia and Pardo, 2005). At present, the United Nations conducts e-government survey twice a year to assess the readiness of the governments of different countries regarding the use of information and technology to conduct their business and cater to the masses. As a model, the e-government system should be able to allow any individual visiting the city or country website to engage in communication with the employees of the local government using the internet, GUI, and IM. The current paper is concerned with understanding the current e-government system and proposing an additional system that can aide in the current system. The second chapter assesses the current e-government system and then proposes an additional online system in the next chapter. Also, it identifies the potential merits and limitations of the proposed online system.2. The object of research and its technological auditAt present, due to the technological advancement, almost every household has the access to the technology. This allows the government to implement technology based solutions that can help in making the lives of the people simpler. At present, it has been found that the people are required to stand in the line to vote for their respective candidates. This leads to the challenging situation for government and the
public as well. On one hand where the government is required to make improved management of the voting, on the other the public are required to get away from their daily course and stand in the line to vote. There is a necessity that a system is broughtin the picture that can resolve this challenge. Interestingly, due to the increased adoption of technological devices by the public in the past decades, the implementation of online system has become easier for the government, as long as it is suitable and useful for all the concerned stakeholders.3. The aim and objectives of researchThe aim of the research is to come up with a suitable e-government system that can assist the government in improve its voting. The objectives of the research are:-to understand the existing solutions available for voting-to propose a new e-government voting system-to assess the merits and demerits of the proposed system4. Research of existing solutions of the problemOne can witness numerous researches that have been conducted regarding the usage of technologies to facilitate in the elections (Mcclure et al, 2001; Kohno et al, 2004; Draper and Brown, 2004; Kennedy and Cutts, 2005). Some of these studies have warned against the rapid adaptation of the technology as it can be challenging for the stakeholders to get used to it. However, with the improved security measures, the technologies can be a beneficial tool. The elections conducted in various countriesuses technologies in different way. As for instance, the election conducted in Florida (United States) in 2000 used punch card voting system which was later adopted by wide population. This new electronic voting system allows the voters to have a government issued token or smartcard which they can take to the nearest voting terminal in their locality and then swipe the card. The system also allows them to make any changes if they want by entering pin. This has been considered appreciable in comparison to the traditional method where the voters approach the voting booth tocast their vote by first showing their voter id and proving who they are. On the other hand, the direct recording electronic (DRE) voting system allows the users to have quick voting experience with faster service. There are only few instances of adoption of this system, as there are still countries where the method of voting is traditional and cumbersome (Mercuri, 2002; Bederson et al, 2003). Here, it can be stated that despite the DRE, the government are required to make arrangements for the voting terminals. However, the goal should be to ensure that the voters do not need to leave their home to vote and can vote from their comfort zone. This should be filled as it will reduce the interruption for public who can vote from their comfort. One of the important aspects to understand here is that the parties in the election can get the benefit of the system if they identify any loopholes to utilize the system flaw. The recent development has found that the governments of few countries have adopted the usage of the DRE without considering or questioning the security of the system which can be a fatal mistake. Here, it is necessary that a voting system that is robust and secure is required to be developed (Stuart et al, 2004). The introduction of end to end encryption can also improve the security of the system. The end to end
encryption has become a necessary tool for the current systems due to the increasing security threats (Bannet et al, 2004; Boneh and Franklin, 2001; Clarkson et al, 2008). 5. Methods of researchThe method of research used for the current paper is secondary. The researcher referred to various secondary resources for the collection of the information that wererelevant to the study. The secondary research allows desk-based study of the requiredresearch area. The study could have been taken further by conducting primary research to gain more input for the required system, however due to the time constraint, secondary research was preferred. 6. Research resultsThe current chapter assesses the current e-governance system keeping in view the current position of various countries such as United States, United Kingdom, and India. In general, there are four models of service delivery from the government. They are from a government to the citizens, from a government to businesses operating in the country, from one department of government to another, and from the government to its employees. The adoption rate of e-government system is different in the different parts of the world. The developed economies such as The United States and The United Kingdom have an appreciable rate of adoption in comparison to developing nations like India. The developed nations also witnesses improved usage rate of the system by the citizens whereas same can be found far below in the developing nations (Altameen et al, 2006). The improved usage of e-government system requires that the citizens of the country are well aware of modern information and communication technology and how to use them. If a government is willing to use the e-government system, then it isimportant that an education drive should be facilitated that can educate the citizens about the same. This will help them get the intended benefit from the system. The governments can use the information and communication technologies to improve their governance capability. The IT can be implemented in almost all aspectsof the government activities and all can be coordinated together to provide better service to the masses. Also, the internet can help the government in establishing better coordination among the departments and improving the internal and external relations. In general, when the discussion of e-government comes up, people think about the internet which is appreciable as it is the only thing at present that should be guiding all the technological adoption by the government. However, there also exists e-government which is not based on the internet. The use of SMS, telephone, wirelessnetworks, smart cards, CCTV, and others are also on the premise of information and technology and thus are also the integral part of the e-government system. However, the definition of the e-government has not changed to something that allows inclusionof citizens with the government and this can only be facilitated by the use of the internet (Al-khamayseh et al, 2006).
One of the important things, however, to consider is that the use of e-government system is different in various countries and it impacts the level of equality. The countries, where fewer people are aware of the internet and technology,such as India face a lack of equality. On one hand where the citizens who are aware of IT, gains the benefit from the improved government communication, however, the other part of the citizens who are still unaware of this aspect face challenge. There are many such people who are homeless, have lower income and cannot learn or purchase IT devices, or are living in the remotest of the locations where thereis no IT infrastructure. In such scenarios, it is difficult for the government to provide benefit to these people directly with the use of e-government modules. Here, the elementary step of the government would be to train these people about the new technology and install right infrastructure (Chircu and Lee, 2005).In addition to above, it is important that the citizens trust the e-government model for whether it will perform as expected. Interestingly, the e-government system is still in developing phase from the most developed economies to the underdeveloped economies. Even countries like US and UK has not fully adopted e-government mechanism due to various reasons.6.1 Proposed E-Government SystemThe e-government system consists of various modules and infrastructures that cater to different aspects of government functioning. The current chapter will proposea new module to the current e-government system that is likely to assist the government in getting more digitalized. The system that is proposed is an online voting system for the elections. This system is still in a debate that whether a government should adopt this method of voting considering various challenges, such as identity manipulation, data theft, and others. The system that has been suggested is Java based system which will allow the government to hold voting at the local or national level. The citizens will use this system to enter their personal details and then cast their vote for their preferred candidate. The image below shows the information that will be entered by the users before they engage in voting.
Figure 1: Voter Registration ProcessThe information will be stored in the government database and will not be shared with any third party. The current system will store a name of the voter, his unique voterID, password, phone number of the voter, address of the voter, date of birth, and nationality. The aforementioned information will be used to identify particular voters when they will cast their vote. The registration will generate unique username and password that will be used by the voter to log in to the system using the below window:Figure 2: User Login WindowWhen users will enter their name (username) and password, then the system willtake them to the voting page where the users will see the list of candidates who preferto be elected in the particular election. The users will select a particular candidate andsubmit their vote. The system will ask for the confirmation from the users regarding their vote and the voting will be completed. The users can then log out of the system after casting
their vote. This will be the whole procedure of the new online voting system from theusers’ (voters) end. In addition to the above, the new system will also allow the admin to view the votes cast in a graphical manner. This will allow easy viewing of the votes. The system will allow the admin to view the data in three human readable formats for the total casted votes. The first will be a summary of the votes cast in the form of a table. The sample is shown in the figure below:Figure 3: Voter Results SummaryHere, the admin will be able to view the parties for whom the vote was cast, a total number of votes cast for each of the parties, and the same value in the form of the percentage. This will allow the admin to understand the winner and the loser. Another format that will be used to show the data is pie chart and the bar chart. The snapshot of pie chart generated from the sample data is given below:
Figure 4: Voter Result Summary in Pie ChartHere, in the above pie chart, the admin can visually understand the party to whom the maximum number of votes has been cast. The figure below shows the same data in the form of bar graph:
Figure 5: Voter Result Summary in Bar GraphHere, the bar graph above shows the total votes cast to the different parties. The size of the bar graph will show which candidate has won or lost.These visuals will help the system admin in knowing about the winners and the losers. The appendix at the bottom of this paper shows the java codes utilized to facilitate the development of this system. The codes were substantial in size and, therefore, only certain aspects of them have been shown under different headings. 6.3 Benefits of Proposed E-Government SystemThe proposed system will allow the government to get votes from the citizens without arranging booths to cast their vote. This will significantly reduce the cost incurred in conducting voting across the country every few years. Moreover, this system will allow the voters to cast their vote any time of the day they want and that too without lining up at the voting booths. The secure login id of the voters will be used by them to log into the system and cast their vote as per their desire and comfort level. The new system will securely transfer all the votes to the central database instantly with the help of end to end encryption. 6.4 Limitations of Proposed E-Government SystemThe new system is still in the development stage and there are various aspects that are required to be developed to make it more robust and usable to the government. The current system is less secure and usable to the government and the public.
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