Decentralized Voting System using Blockchain Technology

Technology Used

1. Solidity
2. React, Nodejs
3. Javascript
4. HTML CSS
5. Truffle and Ganache

System Workflow

A brief explanation on the basic workflow of the application.

• Admin will create a voting instance by launching/deploying the system in a blockchain network (EVM), then create an election instance and start the election with the details of the election filled in (including candidates for voters to vote).
• Then the likely voters connect to the same blockchain network register to become a voter. Once the users successfully register, their respective details are sent/displayed in the admins' panel (i.e. verification page).
• The admin then will check if the registration information (blockchain account address, name, and phone number) is valid and matches with his record. If yes, then the admin approves the registered user making them eligible to take part and cast their respective vote in the election.
• The registered user (voter) following the approval from the admin casts their vote to the candidate of interest (from the voting page).
• After some time, depending on the scale of the election the admin ends the election. As that happens the voting is closed and the results are displayed announcing the winner at the top of the results page.

Setting up the development environment

Requirements

• Node.js
• Truffle
• Ganache (Cli)
• Metamask (Browser Extension)

Getting the requirements

1. Download and install NodeJS

   Download and install NodeJS from here.

2. Install truffle and ganache-cli using node packager manager (npm)

   npm install -g truffle
   npm install -g ganache

3. Install metamask browser extension

   Download and install metamask from here.

   For Arch linux:

    sudo pacman -Syu
    sudo pacman -S nodejs
    npm install -g ganache
    npm install -g truffle

Configuring the project for development

1. Clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/InfooGeek/Decentralized-Voting-System-using-Blockchain
   cd Decentralized-Voting-System-using-Blockchain

2. Run local Ethereum blockchain

   ganache

   Note: Do not close ganache (the blockchain network needs to be running all the time)

3. Configure metamask on the browser with the following details

   New RPC URL: http://localhost:8545
   Chain ID: 1337

4. Import account(s) using private keys from ganache-cli to the metamask extension on the browser

5. Deploy smart contract to the (local) blockchain network (i.e ganache)

   #on the root directory
   truffle console
   migrate --reset

   or

   truffle migrate

   Note: Use truffle migrate --reset for re-deployments

6. Launch the development server (frontend)

   cd client
   npm install #for the first time to install dependencies
   npm start

To-Do List

Possible features to add/improve within the app.

• Email Verification—adding email/phone verification (OTP, etc..) while registering for voters.
• Automated Verification—adding an automated verification (rather than manually approving by the admin) for the registered users. This could be based on the custom cooperation email, custom list of emails, or custom list of phone numbers, etc.
• Report—option to generate a report at the end of an election. The report could contain a range of information including the number of people that were eligible to vote, the number of people that participated in the election, a bar-chart/pie-chart showing the election statistics, etc.
• Workflow improvements—overall workflow improvements (eg. option to add candidates within the election setup page), with overall GUI improvements.
• Multiple election instance—ability to create multiple election instances without having to re-deploy the smart contract.
• Use of token to vote instade of native currency—each voter will get a token on registration-verification, using that they can voter only once, it will remove the use of state/hooks in react and can be easy for the voters as well.

License

MIT License

Yog Raj Dhakal (Loma) - MU