Although cryptography based remote voting protocols have been researched since 1981, most of the previous protocols [9], [5], [13] assume the existence of public bul- letins or, in other words, a publicly readable, tamper-proof, append-only log. As blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) offers properties like irreversibil- ity, transparency and decentralization, it is suitable for realization of public bulletin board for the voting system. We see a gap in the research of blockchain based voting systems because there either exists work on just the protocol aspect of the voting system or the performance aspect of the blockchain. As blockchain is a general purpose tool, we believe that there lies opportunities for micro-optimizations that could specifically benefit the voting system. This ushered us to focus our effort on the performance aspect of integration of voting protocol with blockchain. Hence, in this thesis, we first introduce a homomorphic encryption based voting protocol that uses blockchain, Hyperledger Fabric (HLF), as bulletin board. The protocol is de- signed such that it leverages the transaction processing characteristics of underlying DLT. We then created an experiment where we designed a smart contract, set up a blockchain network and exposed the system to 40k concurrent voting transactions to profile the code of HLF. From the profile data, it was found that execution of cryptographic operations constitutes most of the transaction processing time. This led us to benchmark cryptographic libraries for SHA256 and digital signature algo- rithm and integrate the faster library into HLF for better performance. We also found that the transaction manager of HLF does not need read-write locks to ensure transaction isolation in special scenarios, which alleviates the performance drop due to lock contention. Altogether we were able to improve the throughput and latency of the baseline system by more than 30%. Lastly, we make a comparison between public and permissioned DLT based remote voting system and discuss the suitability of permissioned blockchain for the application of voting systems. / Graduate

Lietuvoje, kaip ir visame pasaulyje šiuo metu, rengiant rinkimus kyla didelė problema, kurios esmė - per mažas rinkėjų aktyvumas dalyvaujant šalyje vykdomuose rinkimuose. Rinkimai vykdomi įprastiniu būdu nepritraukia visų rinkėjų, kadangi piliečiams, turintiems teisę dalyvauti rinkimuose, ne visuomet yra patogu apsilankyti rinkimų apylinkėse dėl laiko stokos ar dėl didelio atstumo iki rinkiminės apylinkės. Vienas iš galimų piliečių dalyvavimo šalies politiniuose procesuose padidinimo metodų gali būti elektroninių balsavimų sistemų kūrimas. Kadangi manoma, kad elektroninės balsavimo sistemos suteiktų papildomų patogumų rinkėjams, dalyvaujantiems balsavimo procesuose, daug pasaulio šalių stengėsi sukurti tokias sistemas ir pradėti naudoti jas šalies rinkiminiuose procesuose. Šiame darbe yra pateikti elektroninių balsavimo sistemų modelius ir kūrimą sąlygojantys aspektai, o taip pat aptariamos pagrindinės grėsmės, kurios gali įtakoti elektroninių balsavimo sistemų sklandų darbą. Darbe pateikiama medžiaga, kurioje analizuojami elektroninių balsavimo sistemų atakų metodai, o taip pat nurodomos priežastis, dėl kurių šios sistemos gali būti atakuojamos. Taip pat darbe yra analizuojama elektroninių rinkimų įgyvendinimo patirtis kai kuriuose pasaulio šalyse, o taip pat atlikta Lietuvoje patvirtintos balsavimo internetu rinkimuose ir referendumuose įgyvendinimo analizę ir aptartas galimas Lietuvos elektroninio balsavimo sistemos modelis. Pagrindinis šio darbo tikslas buvo atlikti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Around all over the world, at this moment, there is one main problem, while government organizations are organizing general elections or referendums. Problem is that citizens are very apathetic and their participation in elections and referendums are very low. Elections and referendums which are based on traditional election system, using paper ballots, are uncomfortable for a lot of citizens, which have election right, because it’s not very comfortable or possible to reach voting poll’s on an election day. In this case the participation of citizens is very low, because it’s not always possible to visit polling stations when the distance to it is quiet big or citizen have no time to vote. This problem is very urgent in Lithuania to. One of the easiest ways to increase participation of citizens in country political processes is creation of electronical voting systems which can be used to cast citizen vote remotely or not. Because of opinion that e-voting systems will be more convenient for the voters and this will increase voters turnout on elections and referendums, governments of some countries are trying to create and begin to use those systems on their countries general elections and referendums. This paper work is representing the standards and main aspects of creation of the e-voting systems and main threats to electronical voting systems. It discusses about system attack methods and people which are interested in e-voting systems compromising. Also it analyzes the... [to full text]

This thesis deals with designing and implementation of wireless voting system based on the IQRF technology. The thesis describes mentioned IQRF technology and compares its features with others wireless technologies. It also describes the architecture design and communication protocol of the proposed system. The system consists of device conected to computer which collects data from the voting stations. The core of the thesis is the implementation of this components and implementation of control application for the computer. In conclusion, discussed the achievements and possible improvements.

There are many positive aspects of electronic voting systems: security, verifiability, convenience, resource conservation, and the like. However, there is still lack of trust for electronic voting systems within the public. One of the reasons could be that the notions involved in electronic voting are challenging to understand for the general public. In this project, we tried to create public trust through an explanation system. An explanation system was made to explain how a modern electronic voting system works. User testing was performed after that, to verify whether this explanation system is able to increase people’s trust in electronic voting system. After analysing the data collected through the user testing, we got promising results to believe that this explanation can be used to create public trust in electronic voting systems. / Det finns många positiva aspekter av elektroniska röstningssystem: säkerhet, verifierbarhet, bekvämlighet, resursbesparingar, och liknande. Emellertid så saknas det fortfarande hos allmänheten tillit till elektroniska röstningssystem. Ett av skälen till detta skulle kunna vara att idéerna i samband med elektronisk röstning är utmanande att förstå för allmänheten. I detta projekt har vi försökt att skapa allmän tillit med hjälp av ett förklaringssystem. Ett förklaringssystem tillverkades för att förklara hur ett modernt elektroniskt röstningssystem fungerar. Användartester utfördes därefter, för att verifiera huruvida detta förklaringssystem förmådde öka människors tillit till elektroniska röstningssystem. Efter analys av data insamlade genom användartesterna, fick vi lovande resultat som gav oss anledning att tro att detta slags förklaring kan användas för att skapa allmän tillit till elektroniska röstningssystem.

Currently, there is a lack of usable, remote, and accessible voting technologies that must be addressed. An interactive voice response (IVR) system is one potential solution to this problem, due to its capability of remote use and its audio interface, which is very beneficial for those who are visually impaired. An IVR voting system developed by Holmes and Kortum (2011) was fitted with a synthetic voice and an audio speed adjustment feature for increased accessibility and usability, especially for blind voters (Piner, 2011). This system was tested on the three ISO 9241-11 usability metrics (ISO 9241-11, 1998), efficiency (time to complete a ballot), effectiveness (accuracy), and satisfaction (subjective usability) and compared with the usability of other voting methods in an attempt to determine its viability as a voting method. The usage of the accessibility feature was also examined. Results showed that the IVR voting system is comparable with other voting methods in terms of usability. Results also showed a noticeable portion of non-visually impaired participants utilized the accessibility feature.

In August, 2004, the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan passed landmark constitutional amendment proposals to cut the number of legislative seats in half, and adopt a "single-district, two-vote" system. In May, 2005, the parliamentary electorate system in Taiwan was officially changed from a single-nontransferable voting system (SNTV) to a single-member district parallel voting system. The new voting system was introduced in January, 2008. Under SNTV, the seats won in Kaohsiung County¡¥s legislator election were in proportion to the two political parties. However, the result of the first election after the electorate system changed showed a landslide victory of the KMT (Kuomingtang). The DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) should not have suffered such defeat in the election with the strength and power that their political factions have in Kaohsiung County. Many factors are for certain involved in winning or losing an election, and the focus of this thesis will be on the changes of political factions and how they can influent vote results. Under SNTV, the most influential and powerful political factions in Kaohsiung County were the Red Party, the White Party, and the Black Party. Under the new electoral system, however, as only one candidate will be elected, the political factions, as well as the candidates, have started changing their ways of thinking in terms of whom they should support. The candidates have been paying much more attention to the local political factions. Taking their own interests into consideration, the local political factions have also changed the way they intend to manipulate the vote results. The awakening of the local political factions indirectly made impacts on the result of the Seventh legislator election. In the future, the results of various elections may very well be influenced by the changes of the local political factions. To gain a clearer view of the changes of Kaohsiung County¡¥s political factions under the new voting system, the thesis will first describe the similarities and differences between SNTV and single-member district parallel voting system. It will then discuss the formation and development of Taiwan and Kaohsiung County¡¥s local political factions. The different electoral tactics of the KMT and the DPP under the two voting systems will then be analyzed, following by the examination of the voting results.

This final thesis deals with electoral system to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. Its genesis, evolution and future are presented in 3 chapters and in the Conclusion. Work is designed as a case-study and it employs two methods - from general to particular, and from earlier to later. These methods are used in whole work as well as in particular chapters and subchapters. The first chapter introduces readers to the issue of electoral system in general. There are described two main voting systems - proportional and majority vote. Stress is put to the proportional system which has used for elections to the Chamber of Deputies. Also the question "which electoral system is the best" is mentioned. Following chapter surveys history of the electoral system and evolution from its establishment to the present. Main part of this chapter deals with a reform introduced in the year 2000 which was declared by the Constitutional Court as unconstitutional. New law, instead of blank spaces after the decision of the Constitutional Court, was adopted in the year 2002 and since that it has been valid till the present. The third chapter presents proposals of electoral reform from the year 2008 prepared by a group of experts on the basis of political assignment of contemporary Government....

Elections are one of the most fundamental activities of a democratic society. As is the case in any other aspect of life, developments in technology have resulted changes in the voting procedure from using the traditional paper-based voting to voting by use of electronic means, or e-voting. E-voting involves using different forms of electronic means like / voting machines, voting via the Internet, telephone, SMS and digital interactive television. This thesis concerns voting by telephone, or televoting, it starts by giving a brief overview and evaluation of various models and technologies that are implemented within such systems. The aspects of televoting that have been investigated are technologies that provide a voice interface to the voter and conduct the voting process, namely the Election Markup Language (EML), Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS).

Elections are one of the most fundamental activities of a democratic society. As is the case in any other aspect of life, developments in technology have resulted changes in the voting procedure from using the traditional paper-based voting to voting by use of electronic means, or e-voting. E-voting involves using different forms of electronic means like / voting machines, voting via the Internet, telephone, SMS and digital interactive television. This thesis concerns voting by telephone, or televoting, it starts by giving a brief overview and evaluation of various models and technologies that are implemented within such systems. The aspects of televoting that have been investigated are technologies that provide a voice interface to the voter and conduct the voting process, namely the Election Markup Language (EML), Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS).

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Elections are one of the most fundamental activities of a democratic society. As is the case in any other aspect of life, developments in technology have resulted changes in the voting procedure from using the traditional paper-based voting to voting by use of electronic means, or e-voting. E-voting involves using different forms of electronic means like; voting machines, voting via the Internet, telephone, SMS and digital interactive television. This thesis concerns voting by telephone, or televoting, it starts by giving a brief overview and evaluation of various models and technologies that are implemented within such systems. The aspects of televoting that have been investigated are technologies that provide a voice interface to the voter and conduct the voting process, namely the Election Markup Language (EML), Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS). / South Africa