Start by clarifying the scope and requirements of the election system, such as the types of elections (student government, faculty senate, etc.), voter eligibility, and scale. Then propose a high-level design that covers key components like voter registration, authentication, ballot creation, voting, tallying, and results publication, while discussing trade-offs between security, scalability, and usability.
Pro tip: Emphasize the importance of security and auditability, as elections require trust; mention end-to-end verifiable voting and paper trails as potential solutions. Also, consider the unique context of a university, such as integrating with existing student information systems and handling multiple simultaneous elections.
Ask questions to understand the scope: What types of elections? How many voters? What are the security and accessibility requirements? What is the expected load? This demonstrates adaptability and ensures you design the right system.
Outline the main components: voter registration, authentication, ballot management, voting interface, tallying, and auditing. Consider whether to build custom or use existing platforms, and discuss trade-offs.
Focus on security and integrity: How to prevent double voting, ensure anonymity, and verify results. Discuss technologies like OAuth for authentication, blockchain for auditability, or encryption for privacy.
Address how the system handles peak load during elections, ensures high availability, and recovers from failures. Consider using cloud services, load balancing, and database replication.
Summarize key trade-offs (e.g., security vs. usability, cost vs. scalability) and define success metrics like voter turnout, system uptime, and audit accuracy.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.