Breaking the Icy Future: Electronic Voting and Restoration of Trust in Nigeria's Electoral System

Abstract

This paper examined the potency of electronic voting technology in restoring trust in Nigeria's electoral democracy thereby increasing voter participation in future elections. The objectives are to ascertain the extent to which the deployment of e-voting system would enhance the transparency of electoral processes in the country; to find out how the use of e voting would affect the level of trust in the electoral process; to determine how the adoption of e-voting technology would boost voter turnout and participation rates; and to identify the likely challenges associated with the use of e-voting system in fostering trust and credibility in Nigeria's elections. The paper is anchored on technological determinism theory propounded by an American economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen. Descriptive survey method was used to study 372 in-school adolescent voters out of the 384 samples drawn from tertiary institutions in the three senatorial zones in Anambra State, using multi-stage sampling method. Analysis of the data collected with structured questionnaire revealed, amongst other things, that low voter turnout in previous elections was a function of a constellation of factors that created trust deficit on the part of the electorate on the electoral processes that lacked transparency and characterized by manipulation, voter intimidation, and outright fraud. Hence, it was revealed that introduction of e-voting in future elections would restore trust in the country's electoral system and reduce apathy. It is, therefore recommended, amongst other things, that a hybrid e-voting system, involving the use of electronic voting machines and paper trail should be introduced in future election, while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) takes drastic measures to ensure the security of votes and privacy of voters as well as forestall any technical glitches likely to compromise the system.