An E-Voting Innovation by Machakos University Students

In pursuit of the big 4 agenda and  what STEM can offer, a consortium of students from different departments of Engineering and Pure and Applied Sciences from Machakos University came together and innovated much awaited software to solve the ever perennial elections chaos in Kenyan Universities.

The software known as “Portia”, an eVoting System, was ranked 3^rd by Konza Technopolis Authority’s innovation challenge competition and 1^st in the Hult Prize completion challenge of 2018. This software was used recently by the University student leadership elections for the first time in the month of February and results were excellent with no rigging, no flaws and extremely transparent.

The Portia”, an eVoting System specifications competes with any online voting system ever witnessed around the world. It is a stable version, fully functional web decentralized application and is customizable to any institution and/or any manner of elections. It possesses features like voter verification/registration, delegates voting, candidates voting, results display and tallying and data analysis real-time and online.

The system has been patented and any institution in Kenya and around the world can procure it for any election functions.

The Vice Chancellor, Machakos University, Prof.Lucy Irungu, who is also the President of EARIMA, an East African Universities Innovation consortium, advancing the need for STEM approach in our education system, congratulated the innovative students led by Kelvin Kuria Njoroge from the School of Engineering and Technology ”She reckons that Machakos University has its niche cut out and is now among the best Technical and Engineering young Universities in this region”.

From last year, the University has proved to the world that it is a centre of innovation, especially when it entered and competed successfully in Hult Prize completion. The Hult Prize is a start-up accelerator for social entrepreneurship that brings together the brightest college and University students from around the globe to solve the world’s most pressing issues. Machakos University is not only taking four students to Quito, Ecuador but also four more students to Ghana, Accra (on Renewable Energy innovation) to compete among the best of the world.

The University wishes to appeal to well-wishers to help finance student for the trip to Ecuador and to Ghana in two to four weeks’ time.

For more information, contact: hult.mksu@gmail.com. Social Media handles are: Hult Prize Machakos University on Facebook, Twitter –Hult Prize Machakos@HultMachakosInstagram-Hult prize Machakos University. Or Email: info@box5317.temp.domains or vc@box5317.temp.domains.

Director Corporate Affairs, Public Relations and Marketing.