“The use of RFID technology in voter ID and the voting process along with fingerprint sensors prevents voter fraud and streamlines the election process with efficient voting and quicker results.”
The largest democracy in the world, India, that is Bharat, is undergoing its 18th Lok Sabha General election between the periods of April 19th to 1st June 2024. The country is conducting its largest election for 543 Lok Sabha members in seven phases, with a total of 96.8 Crore (968 million) eligible, registered voters. The election process is conducted and monitored by the Election Commission of India (ECI), an independent body as enshrined in the Indian constitution. Meanwhile, the highest court in the country, the Supreme Country of India is hearing a petition on the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and whether it is possible to match each VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) slip with the EVM. While the ECI has maintained that it does match VVPAT slips and has matched around 4 Crore (40 million) so far no instances of any malpractice have been ever found and EVM tampering is impossible. The SC has rightly acknowledged that 100% matching of VVPATs and EVMs is not necessary. Well, that was some background on the India General Election underway where the nation goes to vote for the third phase on 7th May 2024, voting for 94 Lok Sabha Constituencies.
While India still uses voter IDs, issued by the Indian Govt. to its voters, this blog discusses the use of RFID and biometric technology, the use of RFID Voter IDs, RFID Readers, etc. to ensure that only legitimate voters cast their vote and unauthorized persons are not allowed in a polling booth. RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) technology has gained significant attention in the development of electronic voting machines to ensure fair and transparent voting processes. By integrating RFID chips in voter IDs and fingerprint sensors, electronic voting machines add to the security, accuracy, and efficiency of the voting system.
RFID Voter IDs
RFID technology is a wireless technology that uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data from a tag attached to an object, for automatic identification and tracking. Embedding RFID chips into voter IDs, like we do for RFID-based passports, provides a unique identification method for each voter. Thus, you can ensure that only authorized individuals are allowed to cast their votes, thereby preventing fraudulent activities such as multiple voting or impersonation. The RFID-enabled voter ID cards can be scanned by the electronic voting machine (EVM) connected to an RFID Reader, allowing quick and accurate verification of the voter's identity. Voters can vote their favorite candidates on the electronic voting machine itself.
The use of HF or LF RFID chip in the voter card ensures that voters scan their card near the area as designated and only then they can cast their vote on EVM. The HF RFID scanner attached to the EVM system ensures that all the voter IDs are scanned promptly upon tap and the voter IDs with HF RFID chip (13.56MHz) can be locked and encrypted to prevent any kind of hacking and other fraudulent activities.
Use Biometric Technology to Eliminate Voter Fraud
Apart from using RFID-based Voter IDs (designed as RFID PVC Card), the integration of fingerprint sensors further enhances the security and integrity of the electronic voting process. Fingerprint recognition technology provides a biometric authentication method, ensuring that each vote is cast by a legitimate voter. In India, the AADHAR card issued by the UIDAI contains the biometric data of all Indians and that can be leveraged to eliminate the possibility of unauthorized individuals casting votes on behalf of others, thereby reducing the risk of voter fraud and manipulation.
How to Implement an RFID-based Voting System?
The implementation of RFID technology-based electronic voting machines with integrated fingerprint sensors involves several key steps as follows:
1. Firstly, the development and production of RFID-enabled voter ID cards containing unique identification codes are essential. These ID cards would be issued to eligible voters after thorough verification of their identity.
2. Electronic voting machines equipped with RFID scanners and fingerprint sensors would be deployed at polling stations. The machines would be programmed to scan the RFID-enabled voter IDs and verify the identity of the voters through fingerprint recognition. The voting data would be securely recorded and transmitted to a central database, ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the election results.
3. The RFID-based voting system will match each voter with their constituency and polling booth and raise alarm in case of any mismatch in the voter’s data. It will alert the polling booth officer present at the poll booth and strict action can be taken in case of voter fraud.
Benefits of RFID Technology in Voting/ Elections
The benefits of using RFID technology-based electronic voting machines with integrated fingerprint sensors are manifold, as followings:
1. The use of RFID technology ensures the integrity of the voting process by accurately verifying the identity of each voter. Therefore promoting transparency and minimizing the potential for electoral malpractices.
2. The use of RFID chips and fingerprint sensors enhances the overall security of the voting system, reducing the likelihood of tampering or unauthorized access to electronic voting machines.
3. The implementation of such technology streamlines the voting process, resulting in faster and more efficient elections.
4. The provision of alarms and alerts upon detecting fraudulent voting instills the confidence of the public in the voting process and makes the voting exercise highly transparent and effective.
To summarize, the integration of RFID technology and fingerprint sensors in electronic voting machines holds immense potential for revolutionizing the voting process, making it fairer, more transparent, and highly secure. The use of RFID chip-based Voting IDs ensures that only legitimate voters get to cast their votes and the fingerprint technology effectively ensures that voters cast their votes in their polling area and there is no malpractice such as repeat voting or somebody voting on someone else’s ID. Thus, leveraging these advanced technologies allows the electoral authorities to instill confidence in the electoral process and uphold the democratic principles of free and fair elections. The implementation of RFID technology-based electronic voting machines represents a significant step towards modernizing and safeguarding the electoral systems worldwide. This way, like the RFID-based passports, we can ensure that people carry legitimate documents (their own RFID voter ID) to the polling booth.
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