Development of an Online Voting System for UNIZIK Student Union Government Elections

Student union elections at Nigerian universities, including UNIZIK, are frequently marred by ballot manipulation, result disputes, and logistical disruptions associated with manual paper-based voting systems. This study develops a secure online voting system for Nnamdi Azikiwe University Student Union Government elections, incorporating voter authentication, encrypted ballot submission, real-time vote tallying, and an independently verifiable audit trail. The system was built using Django for the backend, React.js for the frontend, and PostgreSQL for database management. Voter identity verification integrates with the UNIZIK student portal database using matriculation number and biometric confirmation at campus voting terminals. Ballots are encrypted using AES-256 before transmission and stored in an append-only database table to prevent tampering. Development followed the Security Development Life Cycle methodology, incorporating threat modelling at each development phase. System testing included functional testing with 200 simulated voters and penetration testing by a supervised security team. Results indicate that vote integrity was maintained across all test scenarios, with zero successful ballot tampering attempts recorded. Election result computation was instantaneous upon voting closure. Voter participation in simulated elections increased by 54 percent compared to reported rates in prior manual elections. The study concludes that secure online voting systems can substantially improve electoral integrity and student participation in UNIZIK governance. Recommendations include third-party security auditing before live deployment.