Homomorphic Encryption for Anonymous Electronic Voting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic voting systems lack secure and anonymous voting mechanisms, often leading to voter privacy issues, tampering risks, and the inability to prevent multiple voting or vote changes.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a networked environment with a voter registration application, vote collection application, and tabulation application that utilizes homomorphic encryption and a distributed ledger like blockchain to ensure secure, anonymous, and tamper-proof voting processes, where users can register, authenticate, and cast encrypted votes, with multi-factor authentication and biometric data options for enhanced security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional electronic voting systems are used, then voting process is simple, but voter privacy is compromised and votes can be tampered with
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces homomorphic encryption as an intermediary layer between the voter and the vote storage system. This encryption mechanism allows votes to be stored and processed in encrypted form, preventing tampering while maintaining voter privacy. The distributed ledger (blockchain) serves as another intermediary that provides immutable storage and verification capabilities, resolving the contradiction between vote integrity and system complexity by adding specialized components rather than overhauling the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms votes from plaintext to encrypted form using homomorphic encryption, changing the parameter of vote representation. This allows mathematical operations to be performed on encrypted data directly, enabling vote tallying without decryption. This parameter change resolves the contradiction by maintaining vote integrity through encryption while preserving the functional simplicity of the voting process.
2Reliability
If voter authentication is implemented, then multiple voting is prevented, but voting anonymity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the voting process into distinct phases: authentication phase and voting phase. During authentication, voter identity is verified through multi-factor authentication. During voting, the system uses anonymous credentials or zero-knowledge proofs that allow the voter to prove eligibility without revealing identity. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by separating identity verification from vote casting, ensuring both eligibility verification and voting anonymity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces anonymous credentials or zero-knowledge proof mechanisms as intermediaries between voter authentication and vote submission. These intermediaries allow the system to verify voter eligibility without exposing voter identity to the vote storage or tallying systems. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining reliability through verification while preserving anonymity through cryptographic intermediaries.
3Reliability
If distributed ledger technology is used, then tampering is prevented, but system complexity and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements distributed ledger technology selectively for specific functions rather than using it for all voting operations. The blockchain is used primarily for storing vote hashes, audit trails, and verification data, while the actual vote data remains in encrypted form in a more efficient storage system. This partial application resolves the contradiction by achieving tamper resistance where needed while minimizing computational overhead through selective deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates cryptographic copies (hashes) of vote data and stores these on the distributed ledger rather than storing the actual vote data. This copying approach provides tamper resistance through the immutable nature of blockchain hashes while significantly reducing the computational and storage burden on the distributed ledger system. The hash verification capability maintains reliability without requiring excessive computational resources.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are various embodiments for secure and anonymized electronic voting. A homomorphically encrypted vote and a digital signature of the homomorphically encrypted vote are received from a client device. Then, the digital signature of the homomorphically encrypted vote is validated. Next, the homomorphically encrypted vote is stored in a data store in response to validating the digital signature of the homomorphically encrypted vote. Finally, the homomorphically encrypted vote is recorded in a publicly available distributed ledger.