Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT)
Voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) or also known as Verifiable paper record (VPR) is basically a replacement to the ballot voting system. VVPAT is implemented to help voters gain the feedback after the process of voting. VPR is an independent verification system for voting machines like EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) designed to allow voters to verify their votes were cast properly. VVPAT basically functions to avoid any sort of cheat or fraud in the election results or process.A paper VVPAT is readable to the voters and consists of the voter’s name and symbol of the parties they are voting for. The voters can read the arrangements on the paper VVPAT and interpret their votes. It has various The VVPAT also consists of a Direct Recording electronic Voting System (DRE) to ensure that the votes have been recorded as intended. A DRE voting machine records by means of a ballot display that records voting data in and ballot images in memory components.VVPAT has different advantages over a non-document ballot voting system as in a non-document ballot voting system the voter does not have an option to review the votes casted or if the voting data is recorded. As a result the Election officials find it difficult to manually recount votes and thus the chances of fraud and misplacement of votes are increased.In India the VVPAT was first introduced in the 2014 general elections in 8 parliamentary constituencies namely Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Bangalore South, Raipur, Jadavpur, Patna, Chennai Central, Sahib and Mizoram. The first VVPAT with Electronic Voting Machine(EVM) was used in Noksen Assembly Constituency under Teunsang district of Nagaland in 2013 Assembly elections and the reports were more satisfactory. After Teunsang , VVPAT was largely used in 10 constituencies in the Mizoram Assembly elections and then in the Goa assembly elections.On the hand where VVPAT has several advantages, it also has challenges and disadvantages. Some of the problems faced by the VVPAT are-• The electoral officers have found that the voter behavior captured in VVPAT shows that the voters do not verify their choices by reading the VVPAT. Moreover, a manual Voter verified paper audit trail is much expensive and is difficult to handle.• The installation of malware software into the VVPAT can lead to malfunctioning and can cause it to the intentionally misrecord voter’s selection.• The current VVPAT systems do not help the blind and individuals with other disabilities as they cannot check or verify their votes by piece of paper.An examinable system like VVPAT can be used in pointing and verifying possible malfunctioning or default in the votes and can result in a healthy selection of leaders. In India VVPAT helped in the Kancheepuram (State Assembly Constituency) in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, 2016.In 2018 ECI(Election Commission of India) introduced new improvements in the machine to prevent it from excessive heat and light. VVPAT in India was announced in 2018 vidhan sabha elections.