With recent backlash against 'EVM hacking' in the elections, it is necessary to think of effective and secure alternatives. Also it's usually observed people can't make to pollling booths on election day and are deprived of their 'Right to vote'. While votes are usually recorded, organized, counted and verified by a central authority, a blockchain-based electronic voting system could decentralize controls. Furthermore nowadays companies and administrations have to face an increasingly rapid need to make decisions that corresponds to an increasingly fast and massive acquisition of feedbacks and documents.
I plan to replace the present EVMs , ballot paper and other mechanisms with a secure interface and enable voters to vote from their individual devices remotely, representing a huge benefit to those who live far from the seat of membership .The remote voting operation can be done via mobile devices or PCs. Also it will be possible to guarantee the accessibility to IT-illiterate population where people can vote in a traditional way, reaching an e-voting polling station, and vote using a virtual ballot paper showed on a touch-screen interface. This project takes idea from "Multi Signature Escrow Payment Services" to implement a robust, safer and fraud-proof voting system and "Sidechain" technology using the "two linked blockchains". The project takes idea from Zcash a public blockchain system that uses zero-knowledge proof called zk-SNARK, to guarantee the data integrity and prevent frauds and cheats and ensuring anonimity as the voter is known in terms of an alphanumeric code called ”address”. The project will also consider voting in remote areas where the internet connectivity is low and thus proposes use of a private blockchain network with that network offline while voting and maintaing a single traditional blockchain and connecting it to the main sidechain as the system comes online. I also plan to use Azure Cloud Services in the later stages to ensure that the virtual voting booth leads to the integration of cybersecurity and privacy tools to protect the blockchain in the Cloud system.
As mentioned the system includes of two main subcomponents, the "e-voting polling booths" and "remote voting using PCs ans mobiles".
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One would go to the polling booth with his/her ID. Then an officer would check the ID of the individual ensuring they are allowed to vote and the officer would input the data of the user into the blockchain. This would be done by scanning the ID of the officer and the voter thus using the multisignature system of "Multi Signature Escrow Payment Services" to ensure a legitimate vote before brodcasting to the blockchain(a private bloackchain representing an EVM). The required number of signatures can be configured based on requirements.
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Once the individual has been allowed by the officer they would then go to a booth and vote. We would be able to know who you voted for , who was the officer that allowed you to vote by ensuring your anonymity. This is all in an environment of immutability making sure that all the data has not been altered.
- A voter would login into the system using tradtional IDs like AADHAR, Voter ID or the organisation IDs. Now the 2-step verification process will include verfication of user using OTP which will be sent to the voter on their mentioned verification method (mobile number / email-id) linked to their IDs. Now the voter will be prompted and directed to the main page with a timeout and the voter would vote.
The proposed project manages the 2 main phases of the voting process i.e. the management of voting and count of votes and infact converges them into a single operation. This project increases the efficiency of the validation phase and of the assignment of the candidate’s vote. Additionally, the proposed e-voting method using blockchain could enhance the Open Data, likewise in economic terms, specifically in the case where the decisions are identified with market studies.