🗳️ Student Council Election System

A modern, full-stack voting platform designed for school and university student council elections. This system offers a secure, user-friendly experience for voters and a powerful management interface for administrators.

🚀 Key Features

🛠️ Intelligent Initial Setup

• No Hardcoded Passwords: On first startup, the system automatically redirects to a setup screen where you can configure unique Admin and Booth credentials.
• Role-Based Access: Secure login for Administrators (management) and Booths (voting stations).

☁️ Database Redundancy & Cloud Sync

• Device-to-Device Redundancy: Supports PostgreSQL (via DATABASE_URL) to allow multiple servers to share the same data in real-time.
• Offline Reliability: Falls back to local SQLite if no cloud database is provided.
• LAN Ready: Built-in support for access across a Local Area Network (LAN), allowing students to vote from any device on the network.

🗳️ Seamless Voting Experience

• Step-by-Step Flow: A guided voting process that ensures every student casts a complete and valid ballot.
• Duplicate Prevention: Tracks voter participation via admission numbers to prevent multiple votes from the same student.
• Dynamic Ballots: Voters only see the candidates relevant to the positions currently being contested.

📊 Administrative Dashboard

• Position Management: Create, edit, and order election roles (e.g., President, Secretary).
• Candidate Management: Add candidates with names, detailed bios, and profile images.
• Real-Time Results: Instantly view vote counts and rankings as they are cast.
• Secure Reset: A multi-step confirmation process for clearing election data for a new cycle.

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🛠️ Tech Stack

• Frontend: Vue.js 3 (Composition API), Vite, Vue Router
• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: SQLite (Local) / PostgreSQL (Redundant/Cloud)
• Styling: Vanilla CSS with modern Glassmorphism aesthetics

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

1. Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or higher)
• npm (Node Package Manager)

2. Clone and Install

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd student-council-election
npm run install-all

3. Running the Application

To start both the client and server concurrently:

npm run dev

• Frontend: http://localhost:5173
• Backend: http://localhost:3000

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🔄 Enabling Redundancy (Cloud Database)

To keep data synchronized across multiple devices or to ensure data safety if a device fails:

1. Create a PostgreSQL database (using Supabase, Neon, or Aiven).
2. Create a .env file in the server/ directory.
3. Add your connection string:

   DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@host:port/dbname
   

4. Restart the application. The system will automatically migrate the schema to the cloud database.

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📱 LAN Access

To allow other devices on your network to access the voting booth:

1. Ensure the server is running on your main machine.
2. Find your local IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.15).
3. Other devices can then access the app via: http://192.168.1.15:5173.
4. The system will automatically route API requests to your main machine.

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🔒 Security Note

Ensure that you use a strong password during the initial setup. For production environments, it is recommended to deploy the backend with SSL/HTTPS.

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📄 License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.