Secure E-Voting System for Student Associations in Private University Using Paillier Algorithm

The representatives of student associations at Private University are entrusted with the responsibility of empowering, facilitating, and nurturing the growth of the students, lecturers, and alumni within their respective programs. If the elected representatives do not align with the general consensus, problems are bound to arise. Therefore, student participation during the annual voting period is of utmost importance. When voting participation is low, the risk of the majority voice not being heard increases. Data from the General Election Commission in the private university reveals that among the four student associations in the Tech and IT Faculty, three of them have a participation rate lower than 50%.This research aims to develop an E-Voting system for Student Associations within the university, with the intention of replacing the currently utilized Google Form system and enhancing student participation in future voting periods. While constructing an electronic voting system, the security and confidentiality of participants are vital. The Paillier homomorphic encryption algorithm is employed in the system to encrypt and decrypt voting messages sent by voters, ensuring their confidentiality. This algorithm was chosen due to its relative recency, speed, and relevance to this research in comparison to other algorithms. A user acceptance test conducted using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has demonstrated that the application has been successfully developed, with user assessments of 87.50% for perceived ease of use, 72.27% for perceived usefulness, 74.74% for behavioral intention, and 86.46% for actual usage.