Electoral Process using Biometric Fingerprint Scanner that Suits the Bhutanese Election

Democracy is a gift from the golden throne; from 2008, Bhutanese people started to choose their leader by casting a vote. The right to vote and more importantly the exercise of franchise by the eligible citizens is the heart of every democracy [1]. Through this exercise of their right to vote have the ultimate power to shape the destiny of country by electing representatives who run the government and make decisions for the growth, development, and benefit of all the citizens. However, the voter turnout seems to be decreasing at an alarming rate based on the Election Commission of Bhutan [5]. This paper proposes an electoral process aiming at better voter turnout. It replaces whole electoral system using Biometric Fingerprint scanner for the voter authentication and a display unit connected to a central database which helps a voter to cast their vote from nearest polling station instead of having to go to his/her polling station to cast vote. It is a hybrid of internet voting and a traditional electronic voting method where the system uses electronic equipment at the nearest polling station to cast vote instead of using a personal laptop or mobile phone to cast vote using an app. The hybrid system is adopted with the major findings shown in “Internet Voting in Estonia” [13] which is a small country and suitable to adopt internet voting.