Electronic Voting Machine
Voting machines are the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment (including software, firmware, and documentation required to program control, and support equipment), that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information. The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use electronic voting machines.
A voting system includes the practices and associated documentation used to identify system components and versions of such components; to test the system during its development and maintenance; to maintain records of system errors or defects; to determine specific changes made after initial certification; and to make available any materials to the voter (such as notices, instructions, forms, or paper ballots).
Traditionally, a voting machine has been defined by the mechanism the system uses to cast votes and further categorized by the location where the system tabulates the votes.
Voting machines have different levels of usability, security, efficiency and accuracy. Certain systems may be more or less accessible to all voters, or not accessible to those voters with certain types of disabilities. They can also have an effect on the public's ability to oversee elections.We are in the midst of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and Mumbaikars are gearing up to cast their votes tomorrow. For many this would be a new experience. These first time voters must have surely heard of the Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs at the voting booths, but having not seen it before, we tell you how they work.
The machine essentially includes a control unit and a balloting unit, both connected via a five meter cable. These machines can be powered by a six volt alkaline battery, which means they can easily be used in rural areas where there is no electricity.
A voter has to simply press a button on the side of a candidate’s party image to cast his or her vote. A machine can only accept five votes in a minute, and after each vote, the machine locks itself and can only be unlocked using a new ballot number. The polling booth is always presided by a government officer in charge of the controlling unit of the EVM. The officer is the one in charge of unlocking the machine to accept another ballot. This system is tamper-proof and a person won’t be able to cast more than one vote.
One machine is able to accept up to 3,840 votes, and cater to 16 candidates each. So with four EVMs at a polling booth, these machines can cater to 64 candidates in one constituency. If there is a constituency, where there are more than 64 candidates, the polling booth has to fall back on the traditional paper ballots.
An EVM has more than one advantage over paper ballots. It is tamper-proof, illiterate people find it easier to press a button than putting a stamp on a paper and finally the vote counting takes only two to three hours as compared to 30-40 hours using the traditional method.
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