CIA/e-voting-system/TROUBLESHOOTING.md

Troubleshooting Guide

Issue: 404 on /api/elections/active

Diagnosis

First, check what's actually in the database:

# Check all elections
curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/debug/all

# Example response:
{
  "current_time": "2025-11-07T03:45:00.123456",
  "elections": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Election Présidentielle 2025",
      "is_active": true,
      "start_date": "2025-11-06T02:45:00",
      "end_date": "2025-11-14T02:45:00",
      "should_be_active": true  ← Should be TRUE
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "Présidentielle 2020",
      "is_active": false,
      "start_date": "2020-04-10T08:00:00",
      "end_date": "2020-04-10T20:00:00",
      "should_be_active": false
    }
  ]
}

Solution

If no elections show should_be_active: true, follow these steps:

Option 1: Fresh Database (Recommended)

# Stop containers
docker-compose down

# DELETE the database volume
docker-compose down -v

# Start fresh (will reinitialize)
docker-compose up -d

# Wait 30 seconds for database to initialize
sleep 30

# Verify elections were created
curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/debug/all

# Now test active elections
curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/active

Option 2: Manually Fix via Adminer

1. Go to http://localhost:8081

2. Login:

   • Server: mariadb
   • User: evoting_user
   • Password: evoting_pass123
   • Database: evoting_db

3. Run SQL in Adminer:

   -- Update election 1 to be active
   UPDATE elections
   SET
       is_active = 1,
       start_date = DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 1 HOUR),
       end_date = DATE_ADD(NOW(), INTERVAL 7 DAY)
   WHERE id = 1;
   
   -- Verify it worked
   SELECT id, name, is_active, start_date, end_date FROM elections LIMIT 5;
   

4. Test API:

   curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/active
   

Option 3: Direct Database Command

# Connect to MariaDB in Docker
docker-compose exec mariadb mariadb -u evoting_user -pevoting_pass123 evoting_db

# Run this SQL:
UPDATE elections
SET
    is_active = 1,
    start_date = DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 1 HOUR),
    end_date = DATE_ADD(NOW(), INTERVAL 7 DAY)
WHERE id = 1;

# Exit (Ctrl+D)

# Test:
curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/active

Root Cause

The 404 occurs when:

• No elections exist in database
• All elections have is_active = FALSE
• All elections have dates in the past (end_date < NOW())
• All elections have dates in the future (start_date > NOW())

The database initialization scripts should handle this, but if they don't:

1. docker/init.sql creates 1 active election (ID 1)
2. docker/populate_past_elections.sql creates 10 past elections (IDs 2-11)
3. docker/create_active_election.sql ensures election 1 is always active

If still getting 404 after these scripts run, use the manual fixes above.

---

Issue: Empty Elections List on Frontend

If /api/elections/active returns [] (empty list):

Check 1: Database has active elections

curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/debug/all

Check 2: Timezone issues

• Docker database might be in different timezone
• The endpoint now includes 1-hour buffer on both sides to handle timezone skew
• If still failing, the election dates are probably way off

Check 3: Frontend not fetching

Open browser console (F12):

# Should show the fetch request
GET http://localhost:3000/api/elections/active

If it's calling the frontend API instead of backend:

• Frontend routes requests through its own API route
• Check frontend/lib/api.ts for correct backend URL
• Verify NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL environment variable

---

Issue: Vote Submission Fails

Error: "Impossible de charger les clés publiques"

Election doesn't have ElGamal keys. Fix:

UPDATE elections
SET elgamal_p = 23, elgamal_g = 5
WHERE elgamal_p IS NULL OR elgamal_g IS NULL;

Error: "Voter has already voted in this election"

Voter already voted. To reset (for testing):

DELETE FROM votes WHERE voter_id = 1;  -- Replace 1 with voter ID
UPDATE voters SET has_voted = FALSE WHERE id = 1;

Error: "Candidate not found"

Candidate doesn't exist for election. Check:

SELECT c.id, c.name, c.election_id
FROM candidates c
WHERE c.election_id = 1;  -- Replace 1 with election ID

---

Issue: Blockchain Not Showing Votes

Check: Votes recorded in database

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM votes;
SELECT * FROM votes LIMIT 5;

Check: Blockchain endpoint accessible

curl http://localhost:8000/api/votes/blockchain?election_id=1

If no blocks:

• Votes might be in database but blockchain not synced
• Restart backend to reinitialize blockchain

docker-compose restart backend

---

Issue: Docker Container Won't Start

Check logs

docker-compose logs mariadb
docker-compose logs backend
docker-compose logs frontend

Database won't start

# Check if port 3306 is already in use
lsof -i :3306

# Or check Docker volume issue
docker volume ls
docker volume rm evoting_data
docker-compose up -d

Backend won't connect to database

Wait longer for MariaDB to start:

docker-compose up mariadb
# Wait until you see: "ready for connections"
# Then in another terminal:
docker-compose up backend frontend

---

Debugging Checklist

• Database initialized? curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/debug/all
• Active elections exist? Check response shows "should_be_active": true
• Backend running? docker-compose ps shows backend healthy
• Frontend built? npm run build succeeded with 0 errors
• Elections endpoint returns data? curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/active
• Frontend can fetch? Check browser console for network requests
• Votes can be submitted? Test via voting interface
• Blockchain records votes? Check /dashboard/blockchain

---

Quick Reset

If everything is broken:

# Stop everything
docker-compose down

# Remove all data
docker-compose down -v

# Fresh start
docker-compose up -d

# Wait for initialization
sleep 30

# Check status
curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/debug/all
curl http://localhost:8000/api/elections/active

# Should be good now!

---

Contact Info

For issues not covered here:

• Check Docker logs: docker-compose logs -f
• Check browser console: F12 in Chrome/Firefox
• Check network requests: DevTools Network tab
• Test API directly: curl or Postman