Biometric Voting Authentication With Anonymous Public-Key Ballots
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing voting systems face challenges in balancing authentication, anonymity, and verifiability, with issues including voter privacy, tampering risks, lack of transparency, and accessibility, particularly in electronic systems.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for anonymized authenticated voting using biometric authentication and distributed ledger technology, employing asymmetric key encryption to generate unique identifiers and maintain voter privacy while ensuring secure and transparent vote recording and counting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If biometric authentication is used to ensure strong voter authentication, then authentication reliability is improved, but voter privacy and data security are compromised due to storage of sensitive biometric data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary authentication information (biometric hash) from the full biometric data, storing and processing only the hashed version rather than the raw biometric data. This allows authentication to function while removing the harmful storage of sensitive biometric information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a biometric hash as an intermediary between the voter's biometric data and the authentication system. The hash serves as a mediator that enables authentication without exposing the original biometric data, thus protecting privacy while maintaining reliability.
2Productivity
If centralized electronic voting systems are used to improve accessibility and real-time results, then voting efficiency is improved, but system security and transparency are compromised due to centralized attack targets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the voting system into distributed components where votes are recorded on a blockchain distributed across multiple nodes rather than in a centralized database. This segmentation eliminates the single point of failure while maintaining real-time processing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the centralized mechanical voting system with a distributed blockchain-based system. This substitution maintains the efficiency of real-time vote counting while providing cryptographic security and transparency that centralized systems cannot achieve.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If voter anonymity is prioritized to protect privacy, then voter privacy is improved, but fraud prevention and authentication capability are weakened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a biometric hash as an intermediary that links voters to their votes without revealing their identity. The hash serves as a pseudonymous identifier that enables fraud prevention through authentication while maintaining anonymity, as the hash itself cannot be used to identify or target individual voters.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for anonymized authenticated voting is configured for registering voters using biometric samples to compute a Secret-Key (S1), generating a Unique-Number (N1), and applying a Function (F1) to compute a Public-Key (P1). The system is further configured for storing the Unique-Number (N1) on a voter device and in a data repository, and the Public-Key (P1) in a Voter Registry as a base identifier. For voting, voters are authenticated by capturing a real-time biometric sample to generate Secret-Key (S2), fetching the Public-Key (P1), computing a Real-Time-Unique-Number (N2) using the Public-Key (P1), the Secret-Key (S2), and the Function (F1), and comparing Real-Time-Unique-Number (N2) with Unique-Number (N1). Upon authentication, voters are provided a ballot interface, when their Vote-Status is pending. A second authentication is performed before capturing the voter's choices on the ballot and receiving the submission. The Recorded-Ballot (R1) is saved with Public-Key (P1) in a public database.