ANALYSIS

EXISTING SYSTEM POSTAL VOTING Postal voting describes the method of voting in an election whereby ballot papers are distributed or returned by post to electors, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. It is of benefit to people who may not be able to attend a polling station in person, either through a physical disability or absence from the locality. This method of voting is available to voters upon application (sometimes with restrictions) in statutory elections in many democratic nations. On the other hand, concerns about postal voting have been raised as to whether it complies with the requirements of a secret ballot, in that people cast their vote outside the security of a polling station, and whether voters can cast their vote privately free from another person's coercion. There have been cases of electoral fraud with postal votes in the United Kingdom (including in Birmingham at the 2004 European and local government elections in the UK) Postal voting can be a way to prevent manipulation of an election through "get out the vote" efforts, for instance, in state conventions of a society, in which supporters of a cause or candidate transport in their supporters by bus in order to vote and then bus them home again This voting systrm is used in absentee ballot. An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station. Numerous methods have been devised to facilitate this. Increasing the ease of access to absentee ballots are seen by many as one way to improve voter turnout, though some countries require that a valid reason, such as infirmity or travel, be given before a voter can participate in an absentee ballot. As of now, India does not have an absentee ballot system for all citizens. In a restricted sense, The Representation of the People Act-1950[8] (RPA) section 20(8) allows people such as people on polling duty and serving in armed forces to vote in absentia through postal means. Problems with postal voting have attracted attention in recent elections in Australia and in the United Kingdom. This paper reviews the international experiences with absentee (postal) voting in developed capitalist democracies. It concludes that: Postal Voting can reduce costs of running elections; Absentee voting can have a negative impact on the civic aspects of voting (cueing at the polling station has a politically edifying effect, which is minimised by absentee voting); More generally (but of less relevance in Australia) Turnout has tended to be higher in contests that allow for postal voting. Contrary to some fears, this higher level of turnout does not generally decline of once the novelty of postal voting wears off. Further, postal voting leads to higher turnout among those with fewest resources. Fraud is the most common argument against all-postal voting. While a councillor in the British city of Birmingham was recently found guilty of electoral fraud, there is little evidence to suggest that abuse of the postal voting is widespread. In a survey conducted in Oregon found that

only 3 individuals, or .3% of all voters [Felt] pressured to vote a certain way. Of these three, only one indicated that he/she voted differently as a result of this pressure (Southwell and Burchett 1997, p.54). Whereas this does not prove the absence of fraud, it seems that the problem is generally overstated. Some of the problems with the postal voting are : Identity theft : It is difficult to find who actually casted the vote No secrecy : Votes cant be casted under secrecy No reliability : Postal service should assure that the votes do not get lost

BALLOT VOTING SYSTEM A ballot is a device (originally a small ballsee blackball) used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, butgovernmental elections use pre-printed to protect the secrecy of the votes. The voter casts his/her ballot in a box at a polling station. In British English, this is usually called a "ballot paper". The word "ballot" is used for an election process within an organisation (such as a trade union "holding a ballot" of its members). Depending on the type of voting system used in the election, different ballots may be used. Ranked ballotsallow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, while ballots for firstpast-the-post systems only allow voters to select one candidate for each position. In partylist systems, lists may be open or closed.A larger number of elected offices required longer ballots, and at times the long ballot undoubtedly resulted in confusion and blind voting, though the seriousness of either problem can be disputed. Progressivists attacked the long ballot during the Progressive EraBallot design can aid or inhibit clarity in an election. Poor designs lead to confusion and potentially chaos if large numbers of voters spoil or mismark a ballot After nomination of candidates is complete, a list of competing candidates is prepared by the Returning Officer, and ballot papers are printed. Ballot papers are printed with the names of the candidates (in languages set by the Election Commission) and the symbols allotted to each of the candidates. Candidates of recognised Parties are allotted their Party symbols. Some electors, including members of the armed forces or government of India Voting is by secret ballot. Polling stations are usually set up in public institutions, such as schools and community halls. To enable as many electors as possible to vote, the officials of the Election Commission try to ensure that there is a polling station within 2km of every voter, and

that no polling stations should have to deal with more than 1200 voters. Each polling station is open for at least 8 hours on the day of the election Some problems with the paper ballot voting system are 1. Risk of looting of the ballot from polling booth or may be forced vote by capturing the polling booth 2. It is a slow process and requires lots of time along all the processes of the election . 3. Difficult counting methods which may be the victim of fraudalents 4. It requires large amount of paper which can be hazardous to the environment

E VOTING SYSTEM Electronic voting (also known as e-voting) is a term encompassing several different types of voting, embracing both electronic means of casting a vote and electronic means of counting votes. Electronic voting technology can include punched cards, optical scan voting systems and specialized voting kiosks (including self-containeddirect-recording electronic voting systems, or DRE). It can also involve transmission of ballots and votes via telephones, private computer networks, or the Internet. In general, two main types of e-Voting can be identified:[1][2]

e-voting which is physically supervised by representatives of governmental or independent electoral authorities (e.g. electronic voting machines located at polling stations); remote e-Voting where voting is performed within the voter's sole influence, and is not physically supervised by representatives of governmental authorities (e.g. voting from one's personal computer,mobile phone,television via the internet (i-voting).

Electronic voting technology can speed the counting of ballots and can provide improved accessibility for disabled voters. However, there has been contention, especially in the United States, that electronic voting, especially DRE voting, could facilitate electoral fraud. Electronic Voting Machines ("EVM") are being used in Indian General and State Elections to implement electronic voting in part from 1999 elections and in total since 2002 elections. The EVMs reduce the time in both casting a vote and declaring the results compared to the old paper ballot system. Some of the issues with e voting are : 1. A candidate can know how many people from a polling station voted for him. For example, in Indian general elections, 2004; the day after the election results were declared, The Times of India, Mumbai carried statistics about which areas in Mumbai voted for which candidate. People from Kandivali gave more votes to Govinda, while people from Borivali polled more votes for his opponent Ram Naik.

2. The control units do not electronically transmit their results back the Election Commission, even though a simple and unconditionally secure protocol for doing this exists. The Indian EVMs are purposely designed as stand-alone units to prevent any intrusion during electronic transmission of results. Instead, the EVMs are collected in counting booths and tallied on the assigned counting day(s) in the presence of polling agents of the candidates. 3. The EVM machine is prone to tampering . Some attacks like replacing the part inside the control unit that actually displays the candidates' vote totals, using a small clip-on device to manipulate the vote storage memory inside the machine 4. High cost of operation . Maintainance of EVM machines also adds up to the cost. 5. Divice failure may lead to cancellation of the election in a booth 6. Low voter turnout due to rush , busy schedule , inconvenience,etc