E-voting: Controversies, Legal Challenges, and Technical Difficulties and Solutions

Presented By: Nam Phan

Contents

Introduction

Technical Difficulty: Florida Primary 2002

Technical Solution: Brasil

Technical Solution: Estonia

Controversy: Voter Verified Paper Trail (VVPT) for Electronic Ballot Audit

Legal Challenge: The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act

Technical Difficulty & Solution: Coercion – Resistance

Introduction

• System Types• Paper-based • Direct-recording (DRE)• Remote (Internet)

• Pros• Speed • Accessibility

• Cons• Subject to programming error• Equipment malfunctions• Malicious Tampering

Florida Primary 2002• 10,000+ new voting machines• Unresponsive Touchscreens• Unable to Restart• Unsolicited restarts• No Tests• No Voter Verifiable Paper Trail

Brasil Electronic Voting System

• Completely Electronic Since 2000• Voter Verifiable with add-on printer to DRE machines• Auditing• Bio-metrics planned• No source code released• Testing

Estonia & Internet Voting

• Since 2006•Given Identification card •Optional and only before election day • “One person, One vote”• Envelopes•Public Key cryptography

Voter Verifiable Paper Trail

•Verified Voting movement•https://www.verifiedvoting.org•Petition•Votes need permanent record to audit and tally•Representative Rush Holt

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act

• Voter-verified paper record in .5% in state jurisdiction• Ban wireless devices• Ban internet connections• Band undisclosed software • Ban uncertified tabulating machines

Coercion

•Adversaries•Receipt-Freeness•Randomization attack• Forced abstention attack• Simulation Attack•Correctness•Verifiability

Coercion cont’d

•Anonymous Channels•Mixed-networks• Fake keys• Fake Registration

Bibliography

1. Juels, Ari, Dario Catalano, and Markus Jakobsson. "Coercion-Resistant Electronic Elections." Diss. Indiana U, School of Informatics, 2002. Cryptology EPrint Archive: Report 2002/165. 2002. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.

2. Mercuri, Rebecca. "Florida Primary 2002: Back to the Future." N.p., 11 Sept. 2002. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.

3. Rezende, Pedro R.E. "Elections in Brazil." Elections in Brazil. N.p., 26 May 2004. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cic.unb.br/docentes/pedro/trabs/election.htm>.

4. 1.9 Billion Digits: Brazil’s Bid For Biometric Voting By Dom Phillips Giving Fingerprints in Brazil Used to Be a Messy Business. In November 2007, While Registering with the Federal Police in São... "1.9 Billion Digits: Brazil’s Bid For Biometric Voting." Http://txchnologist.com/. GE, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://txchnologist.com/post/25510816014/1-9-billion-digits-brazils-bid-for-biometric>.

Biliography cont’d

5. McCullagh, Declan. "Shamos: Why E-voting Paper Trails Are a Bad Idea - CNET." CNET. CNET, 21 Apr. 2008. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cnet.com/news/shamos-why-e-voting-paper-trails-are-a-bad-idea/>.

6. Verified Voting Foundation. "Legislation." Verified Voting. Verified Voting Foundation, 29 Nov. 1999. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <https://www.verifiedvoting.org/resources/vvpr-legislation/>.

7. "The Supreme Court Of Estonia." Supreme Court of Estonia. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nc.ee/?id=381>.

8. "Documents about Internet Voting." Documents. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://www.vvk.ee/voting-methods-in-estonia/engindex/reports-about-internet-voting-in-estonia/>.