🗳️ 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.

🛠️ 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

⚙️ 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

🔄 Enabling Redundancy (Cloud Database)

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

Create a PostgreSQL database (using Supabase, Neon, or Aiven).
Create a .env file in the server/ directory.

Add your connection string:

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

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

📱 LAN Access

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

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

🔒 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.

📄 License

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

3.7 KiB Raw Blame History