Towards improving the efficacy of code-based verification in internet voting

End-to-end verifiable Internet voting enables a high level of election integrity. Cast-as-intended verification, in particular, allows voters to verify that their vote has been correctly cast, even in the presence of malicious voting devices. One cast-as-intended verification approach is code-based verification, used since 2015 in legally-binding Swiss elections. We evaluated the Swiss paper-based polling sheet and voting interface, focusing on how well it supported voters in verifying their votes. We uncovered several potential issues related to manipulation detection. We improved the paper-based polling sheet and voting interface accordingly. Then, we carried out a between-subjects lab study with 128 participants to compare the original and improved sheet and interface wrt. usability and its effectiveness in supporting manipulation detection. Our improvements significantly enhanced detection. Our study delivered insights into participants’ somewhat ineffectual reactions to detected anomalies, i.e. starting over again and trying to cast the same vote again, or calling the telephone number provided by the interface. This problem is likely to manifest in any verifiable voting system and thus needs to be addressed as future work

HCI in e-Government and e-Democracy

This chapter introduces the application of HCI design processes and design principles in e-government and e-democracy. We elaborate on HCI design processes and six HCI design principles in the context of e-government and e-democracy, including citizen-centered design, usability, accessibility, access to information, transaction efficiency, and security and privacy. Then, we present two cases to demonstrate the value of applying the HCI processes and design principles in developing and deploying e-government and e-democracy. Finally, we highlight the challenges faced by e-government and e-democracy as well as the future trends. In conclusion, HCI can help the success of e-government and e-democracy and their future growth

Usable Verifiable Secrecy-Preserving E-Voting

In this paper we propose the usage of QR-Codes to enable usable veriable e-voting schemes based on code voting. The idea { from a voter\u27s perspective { is to combine code voting proposed by Chaum with the cast-as-intended verication mechanism used e.g. in Switzerland (using a personal initialization code, return codes per option, a conrmation code and a nalisation code); while all codes to be entered into the e-voting system by voters are available as QR-Code (i.e. one personalised QR voting code per voting option and one personal conrmation QR-Code). We conduct a user study to evaluate the usability and user experience of such an approach: both the code sheets and the election webpage are based on usability research in this area but adopted for our idea. As our proposal performs good wrt. usability, we discuss how such usable front-ends enable more secure e-voting systems in respect to end-to-end veriability and vote secrecy

A Framework for QKD-based Electronic Voting

This paper deals with the security aspect of electronic voting (e-voting) by introducing quantum key distribution (QKD) to the e-voting process. This can offer an extremely high level of security that can be very beneficial for some significant e-voting tasks. Moreover, a framework for the integration of the QKD with the e-voting system is proposed. The Helios voting system, which is considered as one of the open-source and major voting systems, has been chosen for this integration. Investigation of the main design aspects of building a QKD-based e-voting system has been done. Thus, the expected advantages and limitations of the proposal are discussed and analyzed

Mental Models of Verifiability in Voting

In order for voters to verify their votes, they have to carry out additional steps besides selecting a candidate and submitting their vote. In previous work, voters have been found to be confused about the concept of and motivation for verifiability in electronic voting when confronted with it. In order to better communicate verifiability to voters, we identify mental models of verifiability in voting using a questionnaire distributed online in Germany. The identified mental models are Trusting No Knowledge Observer Personal Involvement and Matching models. Within the same survey, we identify terms that can be used in place of ‘verify’ as well as security-relevant metaphors known to the voters that can be used to communicate verifiability