Fully Transparent, Verifiable, Assurable, and Deployable (Remote) Electronic Voting Enabling Open and Fair Elections
Primary Investigator:
Xukai Zou
Nathan Swearingen, Xukai Zou, Ninghui Li and Feng Li
Abstract
In this project, we will investigate “Fully transparent, verifiable, assurable, fair and practical remote electronic voting”. The work aims to deliver a ground-breaking remote e-voting system which fills the cap between ballot casting and verification & tallying of voters’ plain votes associated with existing voting systems/platforms.
Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the precinct and voting booth-based voting process in the 2020 US general election caused huge and enduring pain, frustration, and life-threatening consequence, not only before and during the 2020 election season but also after it. Such an unexpected risking-of-life situation once again amplifies the urgency for and the necessity of a voting platform which is practical, secure, robust, and easily accessible and can be employed for casting ballots and tallying and verifying votes remotely by the public with a peaceful and accuracy-assured mind and without risking their lives. The objective of this work is to develop such a practical and resilient E-voting system for voters to vote remotely without the worry or danger of going to a voting booth. The system also allows any voter to verify their individual plain vote, and for anyone to tally and verify the vote counts for every candidate, both visually and technically. The entire ballot-casting process and tallying and verification process, as well as the cast ballots, plain votes, and transition from ballots to votes, are available, transparent, viewable to anyone. The system is resistant to the misbehavior of any participant and to outside attacks. Such resistance, plus the full verifiability and transparency, means any invalid votes and attacks can be detected with high probability.