Cats and Dogs An Integrity for Voting Systems Based on Paper Ballots

Abstract—Voting systems based on paper ballots has a long history with various problems. Vote-selling and correct outcome are two major problems among many. In this work, we propose a new solution to these problems by using UltraViolet (UV) fiber paper Physical Unclonable Function (PUF). When applied this solution not only prevents vote-selling but also ensures the correctness of the outcome. With these two problems eliminated, the voting systems based on paper ballots will have complete integrity

End-to-end verifiability for optical scan voting systems

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-59).End-to-end verifiable voting systems allow voters to verify that their votes are cast as intended, collected as cast, and counted as collected. Essentially, end-to-end voting systems provide voters assurance that each step of the election worked correctly. At the same time, voting systems must protect voter privacy and prevent the possibility of improper voter influence and voter coercion. Several end-to-end voting systems have been proposed, varying in usability and practicality. In this thesis we describe and analyze Scantegrity II, a novel end-to-end verification mechanism for optical scan voting which uses confirmation codes printed on the ballot in invisible ink. The confirmation codes allow voters to create privacy-preserving receipts which voters can check against the bulletin board after the close of the election to ensure that their votes have been collected as cast. Anyone can check that votes have been counted as collected and that the tally is correct. We describe the Scantegrity II system and analyze the integrity and privacy properties it provides.by Emily Shen.S.M

Democracy Enhancing Technologies: Toward deployable and incoercible E2E elections

End-to-end verifiable election systems (E2E systems) provide a provably correct tally while maintaining the secrecy of each voter's ballot, even if the voter is complicit in demonstrating how they voted. Providing voter incoercibility is one of the main challenges of designing E2E systems, particularly in the case of internet voting. A second challenge is building deployable, human-voteable E2E systems that conform to election laws and conventions. This dissertation examines deployability, coercion-resistance, and their intersection in election systems. In the course of this study, we introduce three new election systems, (Scantegrity, Eperio, and Selections), report on two real-world elections using E2E systems (Punchscan and Scantegrity), and study incoercibility issues in one deployed system (Punchscan). In addition, we propose and study new practical primitives for random beacons, secret printing, and panic passwords. These are tools that can be used in an election to, respectively, generate publicly verifiable random numbers, distribute the printing of secrets between non-colluding printers, and to covertly signal duress during authentication. While developed to solve specific problems in deployable and incoercible E2E systems, these techniques may be of independent interest