The use of e-voting as a new tool of e-participation in modern democracies

Finding the answer to the question of the role of electronic voting in a modern country constitutes an important part of researches into electronic democracy. The recent dynamic development of information and communication technologies (ICT) and mass media have been leading to noticeable changes in functioning of contemporary countries and societies. ICT is beginning to play a greater and greater role and filter down to almost every field of contemporary human life – including politics. Electronic voting represents one of the more and more popular forms of so called e-democracy, and is an interesting research subject in the context of mechanisms for implementing this form of participation in elections, its legitimization, specific technological solutions for e-voting and their effectiveness as well as unintended consequences. The main subject of this text is the use of electronic voting (e-voting) as one of the forms of electronic democracy. The article attempts to answer the following research questions: First, what is the impact of ICT on the political processes – particularly on the voting procedures? Secondly, what is the essence of electronic voting and what are its main features? Finally, what are the e-voting experiences in the European countries? The text is devoted rather to general remarks on e-voting, and does not constitute a complete analysis of the issue. It is intended to be a contribution to the further considerations.Znalezienie odpowiedzi na pytanie o rolę elektronicznego głosowania w elekcjach państwowych stanowi ważną część badań nad demokracją elektroniczną. W wyniku dynamicznego rozwoju technologii informacyjnych i komunikacyjnych (ICT) doszło do zauważalnych zmian w funkcjonowaniu współczesnych państw i społeczeństw. ICT zaczynają odgrywać większą rolę, przenikając niemal każdą dziedzinę życia współczesnego człowieka – także politykę. Elektroniczne głosowanie stanowi jedną z coraz bardziej popularnych form tzw. e-demokracji, i staje się interesującym przedmiotem badań. Głównym zagadnieniem niniejszego tekstu jest wykorzystanie głosowania elektronicznego (e-głosowania) jako jednej z form demokracji elektronicznej. Artykuł stanowi próbę odpowiedzi na następujące pytania badawcze: po pierwsze, jak ICT wpływają na procesy polityczne – szczególnie na procedury głosowania? Po drugie, co jest istotą głosowania elektronicznego i jakie są jego główne cechy? Wreszcie, jakie doświadczenia z e-głosowaniem mają państwa europejskie? Tekst nie stanowi wyczerpującej analizy przedmiotu badań. Ma być raczej przyczynkiem do dalszych rozważań nad e-demokracją, e-partycypacją, a przede wszystkim e-głosowaniem

Cast-as-Intended Mechanism with Return Codes Based on PETs

We propose a method providing cast-as-intended verifiability for remote electronic voting. The method is based on plaintext equivalence tests (PETs), used to match the cast ballots against the pre-generated encrypted code tables. Our solution provides an attractive balance of security and functional properties. It is based on well-known cryptographic building blocks and relies on standard cryptographic assumptions, which allows for relatively simple security analysis. Our scheme is designed with a built-in fine-grained distributed trust mechanism based on threshold decryption. It, finally, imposes only very little additional computational burden on the voting platform, which is especially important when voters use devices of restricted computational power such as mobile phones. At the same time, the computational cost on the server side is very reasonable and scales well with the increasing ballot size

Distance voting (e-voting): the ways of its applicability in Moldova

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the e-voting systems implementation experience in Europe (and the world) and the necessity and possibility to implement the effective Out of Country Voting (OCV) for Moldova. This paper is aimed also to start a discussion on different aspects of information system "Elections" to be built in Moldova

Towards a trusted e-election in Kuwait : Requirements and principles

Kuwait is a democratic country that has used paper ballots for its parliament elections for many years. Although many people are content with the paper ballot, a survey shows that it has drawbacks, which have made some people lose confidence in the system and would prefer a replacement electronic system. However, the survey also shows that voters are cautious about electronic voting and are not ready for a full internet-enabled system. The aim of this paper is to propose a step-by-step approach for introducing electronic voting system and to define a set of requirements that an e-voting system, which is planned to be used instead of paper-based voting system in Kuwait, should satisfy

TOWARDS A TRUSTED E-ELECTION IN KUWAIT : REQUIREMENTS AND PRINCIPLES

Abstract Kuwait is a democratic country that has used paper ballots for its parliament elections for many years. Although many people are content with the paper ballot, a survey shows that it has drawbacks, which have made some people lose confidence in the system and would prefer a replacement electronic system. However, the survey also shows that voters are cautious about electronic voting and are not ready for a full internet-enabled system. The aim of this paper is to propose a step-by-step approach for introducing electronic voting system and to define a set of requirements that an e-voting system, which is planned to be used instead of paper-based voting system in Kuwait, should satisfy

Framework para sistemas de votação digital

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação, Florianópolis, 2014.Abstract : Votar é um mecanismo amplamente utilizado em tomadas de decisões, sendo comumente empregado por governos e empresas. A confiança no processo de votação é fundamental para a credibilidade do resultado. Cada vez mais eleições são conduzidas através da internet devido à sua acessibilidade e facilidade de utilização. Mas esta prática traz novos desafios, tais como a credibilidade no sistema e o risco de coerção dos votantes. Apesar disto, diversos sistemas de votação online foram e continuam sendo propostos, mas implementá-los e validá-los é uma tarefa complexa e difícil. Para facilitar o desenvolvimento e a avaliação destes sistemas, assim como a idealização de novos protocolos de votação digital, foi desenvolvido um framework orientado a objetos, que fornece a estrutura necessária a um sistema de votação, reduzindo o esforço necessário para o seu desenvolvimento. Com isto, é possível estender sistemas e protocolos de uma maneira simplificada e em um período de tempo menor, favorecendo focar nos pontos mais importantes da implementação, como a busca por vulnerabilidades, testes de diferentes cenários de utilização e possíveis ataques, permitindo encontrar pontos fracos que de outra maneira poderiam não ser notados. Para avaliar a adequação do framework, foram desenvolvidos quatro protocolos de votação digital, assim como um quarto utilizadopara mostrar a importância do framework na avaliação de protocolos.Abstract : Voting is a mechanism widely used in decision making and are commonlyemployed by governments and businesses. The confidence in the votingprocess is fundamental to the credibility of the result. Increasingly pollsare conducted over the internet due to its availability and ease of use. Butthis practice brings new challenges, such as confidence in the system, andcoercion of voters. Several online voting systems have been proposed, but implementingand evaluating them is a difficult and complex task. To facilitatethe development and evaluation of these systems, as well as the idealizationof new digital voting protocols, we developed an object-oriented frameworkthat provides the necessary structure of a voting system, reducing the effortrequired for its development. With it you can extend systems and protocolsin an easier way and in a shorter period of time, allowing focus on the mostimportant points of development, such as searching for vulnerabilities, differentusage scenarios and tests possible attacks, allowing you to find weaknessesthat might otherwise not be noticed. To assess the adequacy of theframework, four digital voting protocols were developed

Internet Voting in Austria: History, Development, and Building Blocks for the Future

This dissertation aims to investigate the origins of Internet voting, analyze several deployments of Internet voting technology in Austria and identify - based on these accumulated experiences - building blocks that can be useful in decision-making on and planning of future uses of Internet voting technology within Austria and throughout the world. In line with the goals of this thesis, it will address the following research questions: - How did Internet voting originate? - What experiences were noted in the process of implementing Internet voting in Austria? - What building blocks can be identified for developing future Internet voting both inside and outside Austria? Internet voting is part of a transformational movement that applies information and communication technologies to daily business activities. It is only logical that elections are also considered for applying electronic (remote) communication technologies. While early efforts were driven by the belief that elections could make easy use of the Internet, it was shown that while the principles have to be interpreted and consequently applied in a different way, the same principles can still be derived for Internet voting, like integrity, secrecy, transparency, accountability and public confidence. The need to have forms of decision making in electronic networks has been identified in its beginnings and has received continuous attention throughout its development. At the height of the excitement about the possibilities of the Internet, countries raced to become the first to run a legally binding election using electronic voting systems. While several candidates emerged (e.g., Costa Rica, Bosnia Herzegovina, Germany, United States), Estonia was victorious in 2005. To date, Estonia is the only country that has introduced this form of voting without any preconditions or other limitations. In Austria, the intentions to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in elections concentrated on parliamentary affairs. Spurred by the efforts around student elections in Germany, Austria sought to conduct Internet voting in 2000. In the years thereafter, considerable progress was made at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), and this progress spearheaded the debate in the early 2000s. At the beginning in the years 2001-2003, technical solutions were sought to verify voter eligibility and maintain voter privacy. Later, more sophisticated algorithms were developed, and functionalities like quotas in election commissions were added. The Federation of Students' elections in 2009 were a remarkable event that demonstrated highly contentious political debate around the topic. This debate continued after the elections, which were held in May 2009 and suffered from the intense debate and protests and consequential organizational shortcomings. The experiences also showed that accurate legal regulations are needed to show interaction with the constitutional legal texts and to ensure accountability to a remote electronic voting channel through legal means. International standards were a first step, but regulations based on actual experience were needed to show how remote electronic voting channels could be realized and how to avoid problems identified in pilot implementations. This practical knowledge also shows that sophisticated algorithms are not always the key to success. Rather, several key implementations make use of very basic technical means to realize the tasks given by law. One should not forget about the voters. They not only need to use such systems, but they also need to understand the processes in order to build trust. The constitutional court ruling lifted the election and ruled that the respective ordinance was not in line with the requirements of the law. Hereby, the court established higher requirements resulting barriers for offering Internet voting channels in future elections. While the election administration system, which was a pre-requisite for the Internet voting system, was discontinued in the election thereafter, it returned in recent elections where postal voting was offered. On the basis of the aforementioned experiences, twelve building blocks were compiled discovered. These include design decisions, such as the following: the form of electronic voting, adaptations of the legal base, the technical means for identification and secrecy, observation, control functions for the electoral commission, evaluation processes, transparency functions, ballot sheet designs, controlling the organizational context as well as providing options for planning and implementation. This framework therefore facilitates and eases the generation of feasibility studies and other analyses and decision making ahead of using Internet voting in an election. With little adaption it can also be used for the use of other voting technologies. This work utilizes theoretical work and knowledge from adaptations of legal texts. These texts cover a wide range of topics, including methods for implementing identification and anonymity functions in remote electronic voting as well as testing and certifying systems that require transparent procedures. The findings also show that implementing remote an electronic voting system is a complex topic. It requires trust in the election administration; otherwise, suspicion will arise when more technology is introduced and implemented in an election process. Remote electronic voting is one of the most challenging information technology (IT) projects

E-voting for Swiss abroad: A joint project between the Confederation and the Cantons

The ever-increasing number of expatriates has fed the political debate on the voting rights of Swiss abroad over the last two decades. More than the right to vote itself, the effective exercise of voting rights has become a much-discussed issue. Swiss expatriates are able to vote at the federal level, which means they are invited to vote in popular votes and referendums up to four times a year and in elections every four years. They vote mainly by post and are faced with delays inherent to this method of voting and are sometimes disenfranchised as a result. Internet voting considerably accelerates the return of the ballot. Its introduction has been one of the main demands of Swiss living abroad. In parallel, the federal and cantonal authorities have planned to gradually and pragmatically adapt direct democracy instruments and voting methods to the digital environment in a prudent and long-term process. Internet voting was launched at the beginning of the 21st century and is one of the key projects of the Confederation’s e-government strategy. Three Internet voting systems have been developed so far by the cantons of Zurich, Neuchâtel, and Geneva. Internet voting was first offered to Swiss expats in June 2008. For the latest federal elections on February 13, 2011, some 55,000 Swiss abroad had the possibility to vote via Internet; on the federal elections on October 23, 2011, some 22,000 Swiss abroad registered in four cantons took part in the very first Internet voting trial during a federal election. Half of Swiss cantons have now introduced Internet voting, mainly for citizens abroad. While it is too early to draw conclusions on whether Internet voting fosters participation of expatriates in Swiss political life, recent experience clearly shows that Internet voting is well accepted. The success of the Swiss model of the introduction of e- voting can be explained with the following elements: joint strategic planning (the roadmap), a good inter-cantonal cooperation with hosting solutions, and a gradual expansion, which puts security at the center of efforts

A smart contract system for decentralized borda count voting

In this article, we propose the first self-tallying decentralized e-voting protocol for a ranked-choice voting system based on Borda count. Our protocol does not need any trusted setup or tallying authority to compute the tally. The voters interact through a publicly accessible bulletin board for executing the protocol in a way that is publicly verifiable. Our main protocol consists of two rounds. In the first round, the voters publish their public keys, and in the second round they publish their randomized ballots. All voters provide Non-interactive Zero-Knowledge (NIZK) proofs to show that they have been following the protocol specification honestly without revealing their secret votes. At the end of the election, anyone including a third-party observer will be able to compute the tally without needing any tallying authority. We provide security proofs to show that our protocol guarantees the maximum privacy for each voter. We have implemented our protocol using Ethereum's blockchain as a public bulletin board to record voting operations as publicly verifiable transactions. The experimental data obtained from our tests show the protocol's potential for the real-world deployment

Blackbox Constructions from Mix-Nets

Mix-nets constructed from homomorphic cryptosystems can be generalized to process lists of ciphertexts as units and use different public keys for different parts of such lists. We present a number of blackbox constructions that enriches the set of operations provided by such mix-nets. The constructions are simple, fully practical, and eliminates the need for some specialized protocols