Gaining assurance in a voter-verifiable voting system

The literature on e-voting systems has many examples of discussion of the correctness of the computer and communication algorithms of such systems, as well as discussions of their vulnerabilities. However, a gap in the literature concerns the practical need (before adoption of a specific e-voting system) for a complete case demonstrating that the system as a whole has sufficiently high probability of exhibiting the desired properties when in use in an actual election. This paper discusses the problem of producing such a case, with reference to a specific system: a version of the Prêt à Voter scheme for voter-verifiable e-voting. We show a possible organisation of a case in terms of four main requirements – accuracy, privacy, termination and ‘trustedness’– and show some of the detailed organisation that such a case should have, the diverse kinds of evidence that needs to be gathered and some of the interesting difficulties that arise

Do high and volatile levels of public investment suggest misconduct ? the role of institutional quality

This paper investigates the impact of institutional quality on public investment levels over the period 1984-2008. Moreover, it studies how the volatility of public investment and the quality of infrastructure are affected by institutional quality, and explores the contribution of other critical factors. The findings suggest an inverse relationship between public investment levels and institutional quality, supporting the idea that governments use public investment as a vehicle for rent-seeking or to compensate for the fall in private investment due to the poor business environment. In addition, aid flows, revenues and abundance of natural resources contribute positively to the level of capital spending. The author also finds that high volatility of public investment is associated with a lower quality of governance. An increase in revenues is associated with a reduction in the volatility of capital spending, suggesting that proper macroeconomic management smoothes the investment cycle. Finally, the paper provides some tentative evidence of a positive relationship between institutional quality and the quality of infrastructure.Investment and Investment Climate,Debt Markets,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Public Sector Economics,Emerging Markets

E-Voting Solution for Romanian Parliament

Every year hundreds of millions of people vote in a variety of settings in many countries around the world. People vote in public elections to choose government leaders and also in private elections to determine the course of action for groups that people are organized in such as non-governmental organizations, unions, associations and corporations (shareholders). Voting is a widely spread, rather democratic, way of making decisions. More and more governments and private organizations realize that the use of new technologies such as the Internet can have beneficial impacts on elections - i.e. higher voter turnout and lower costs of conducting elections. The rules governing elections tend to be highly specialized to meet the specific needs of each type of organization. Most elections, however, require integrity, privacy and authentication.e-voting, elections, democracy, ngo, unions, government

Post-communism and the abandonment of mixed-member electoral systems

Many countries adopted mixed-member (MM) electoral systems in the 1990s, but several switched to list proportional representation (PR) recently. Most switchers are post-communist countries that used the semi-proportional mixed-member majoritarian (MMM) system, often associated with dominant parties. List PR was adopted under competitive conditions in some cases (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Ukraine), while in places where authoritarian control remains (Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan), list PR appears to be used as a means of reducing competition and undermining multiparty democracy

Evolving Political Accountability in Kenya

published or submitted for publicationnot peer reviewe

Spartan Daily, March 13, 1996

Volume 106, Issue 34https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8819/thumbnail.jp