A distributed architecture proposal for e-voting

Uma proposta de arquitetura distribuída para votação eletrônica

Abstract

Manual voting processes have two main problems, the reliability of the result and the delay in counting the votes. To defraud the election, that is, change the amount of votes of the candidates, an attacker can replace ballots with votes for other candidates with ballots with votes for the candidate to be benefited. In this scenario, the security of the electoral process strongly depends on the control of physical access to the ballot boxes. On the other hand, electronic voting systems (e-voting) are known for their agility in counting the votes, as well as having the potential to increase the security of the electoral process. However, both solutions present challenges in relation to the transparency, security and secrecy of the vote. This work presents conceptual and technological requirements for a secure electronic election, proposes a distributed solution for electronic voting, and presents its limitations and some possibilities for future work. Finally, more studies are required to implement the solution, mainly in relation to the secrecy of the vote and incoercibility.

Keywords:
Election; Electronic voting system; E-voting; Consensus; Distributed systems