World Vote Now

Wouldn´t it be nice to have a clean, crisp solution to instantly reach all those people that live with zero connectivity?

Technical Specs:

The prototype satellite voting machine runs on an open-source Linux operating system. The hardware has been constructed from basic, off-the-shelf components and contains a 166 MHZ processor, 128 MB of flash memory, 8-inch monitor as well as USB, serial port and Ethernet connections. We connected through the Thuraya satellite constellation but the system is compatible with all Satellite and GSM networks

To prove the feasibility of the satellite voting system, we took the machine on a first public test run at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal. The test areas included the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, the Department of Science and Technology and the main Library of the sprawling campus with its 15´000 students. A large majority of students and faculty volunteered to vote and we did so until the battery of the machine was completely drained. Many people still wanted to vote, so there is clearly more demand than supply!

The following day, we took the machine for the real test. Just a few hours outside of Dakar the grid stops. Paved roads turn into sand trails, telephone poles and overhead wires disappear entirely. After our car got stuck several times in the sand, we got a ride from a four-wheel-drive bush-taxi and continued to our destination: Alajipate Sou, a small village with no connectivity. We visited the Chief and explained the purpose of the field test and he kindly offered us his house as a base. The people of the village were asked to participate and immediately took a great interest in the project. The people who didn’t speak French and also illiterate participants simply listened to digital recordings of the referendum questions in Wolof and voted using the color-coded buttons.

Many people expressed their strong support for the fact that the tests questions dealt with Health, Access and Safety. We were told by several participants, “These are our daily needs!”

Additional test votes were held in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Satellite Voting Machine prototype was constructed by the Cambridge based, non-for profit IT NGO Aptivate