On Saturday, 17th January, the Ife Medical Student Association of Obafemi Awolowo University (IFUMSA) held its election to elect a new set of Executives for the 2024/2025 academic session, as Adeleke Stephen Oluwatobi emerged as President, Makun Mojasope Tantoluwa as Vice- President, General Secretary – Adebowale David Ayanfeoluwa, Olujobi Odunayo Ifeoluwa – Assistant General Secretary, Financial Secretary – Omojola Mary Omolara, Welfare Secretary – Lawal Abdulrahman Adedayo. Public Relations Officer – Faleye James Olutomiwa, Director of Sports – Adeeyo Bolaji Johnson, Director of Socials – Olabisi Precious Olamide, Treasurer – Ifetayo Michael Ademola, while students’ votes were cast virtually through Votar – an online voting platform.
Voters Express Their Views
In an interview with Philip Odediran, a Part 4 Medical student who voted virtually, stated that he used the Votar platform to vote, and the whole process was easy and fast compared to a physical election, taking only 2 minutes without experiencing any technical issues. Stating that prior to the election, they already collected their details, which included their email and a unique password was sent to their email, which they used to log in and complete the voting process. Although he stated that it did not apply to everyone because some had issues due to late registrations, apart from that, it was a smooth election.
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Also, Henry Adedayo, a Part 2 student of Medicine and Surgery, said, ‘since it was an online election, it was reasonably transparent unless there was any technical discrepancy, but I do not think there was. It actually went well, but since the voting was not actually open, I only voted through my phone, and no one knows who I voted for, and I can’t know other people’s votes. It is reasonably free and fair, he added.’
Votar, a digital solution that brings trust and reliability to elections
In an interview by ACJOAU correspondent with Anthony Okon, the founder of Votar, to know how Votar actually works. He described Votar as an online voting platform developed to support elections for organisations, institutions, and groups. He said it was founded by him while he was still an undergraduate at OAU, and it has expanded around Africa. He further said, it’s a digital solution aimed at improving the conduct of elections through technology, and it started in 2019. It has processed over fifteen thousand (15,000) users on the platform.
The E-voting platform allows users to organise and participate in elections remotely, thereby reducing the challenges associated with physical voting, such as logistics, time constraints, and manual vote counting and prevent risk of manipulation. The E- voting platform has experienced some improvements over time. The initial version of Votar focused on providing basic online voting services, and was designed to originally look like an E-portal, imitating the design, needing just a matric number, then it would create a password for the user.
Following user feedback, Version 2 was introduced with improvements in system security, user interface, and communication features such as email and SMS notifications. These upgrades enhanced the efficiency and reliability of the platform, making it more suitable for a wider range of elections, providing better insights and analysis.
Furthermore, he said Votar operates through two main plans: the free Votar and Votar Pro. The free Votar is designed for informal or low-risk elections, such as student polls, club voting or fashion voting, where voters can vote for free or pay multiple amounts set by the organizers of the election to be able to vote as many times as they want, to ensure their preferred choices are successful. Votar Pro, on the other hand, is intended for more serious elections that require higher levels of security, privacy, and credibility. Overall, Votar demonstrates how digital platforms can contribute to more accessible and efficient electoral processes within academic and organisational settings.
It is part of the vision of Votar that every department and faculty in OAU utilizes Votar for their forthcoming elections. This will ensure better trust, reliability and convenience in elections.
Feel free to reach out to the Votar team to make arrangements for your election via: 08144092733 (Call or WhatsApp) or know more about Votar through their instagram handle: votarhq
Speaking with Adebowale, the IFUMSA Chairman on a Whatsapp call to describe how transparent the E-Voting is, he said ‘from our perspective it is quite transparent, students vote and we see the numbers changing, it was collating with our record, we have the access to the portal, we monitor the progress of the election as we see the progress of the votes immediately they are submitted by the voter, and we have been using the Online platform for like 3 years now.’
In addition, he said, there have been developments and upgrades to the site as we use it because there are some developments, and the developer is quite open to improvement, and we may use it again in years to come.
Concerning the late registration complaint, he said, ‘We do send a unique code to students after registration, and we gave a deadline, but some didn’t register till the day of the election; however, they were still able to register and vote as their unique code was sent to their Gmail within 5 minutes after registration’
In conclusion, upon releasing the results of the election, it was announced that the official swearing of the elected executives will take place on Friday, 30 January at HSLT A, and they urge all IFUMSITES to be there.