Electronic Voting System Using Separate Blockchains for Ballot Secrecy
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Solution Overview
Problem
In electronic voting systems that utilize blockchain for managing voting results, voters and votes become associated, compromising the secrecy of the ballot when voting results are disclosed.
Innovation Solution
An electronic voting system comprising terminals, authentication servers, and voting servers, where authentication and voting data are managed using separate blockchains with distinct IDs, ensuring that authentication and voting processes are anonymized and resistant to alteration, thereby maintaining a secret ballot.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single blockchain is used to store both authentication data and voting results, then the system structure is simplified, but voter anonymity is compromised as voters and votes become associated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the blockchain storage into two separate blockchains: a first blockchain for authentication data and a second blockchain for voting results. This segmentation prevents the association between voter identity and vote content, as they are stored in independent chains that cannot be directly linked, thereby maintaining voter anonymity while managing system complexity.
2Ease of operation
If authentication data and voting results are stored together in the same blockchain, then data management is simplified, but the secret ballot is compromised due to voter-vote association
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates authentication data and voting results into two distinct blockchains, making it impossible to associate specific voters with their votes even though both are stored in the system. This segmentation maintains the secret ballot while still providing centralized management benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism where the terminal device generates and manages the connection between authentication and voting processes without storing the association. The terminal acts as a mediator that proves authentication occurred without revealing voter identity to the voting result storage, preserving anonymity while enabling verification.
3Reliability
If blockchain is used to ensure vote immutability, then vote reliability is improved, but voter identification becomes possible compromising ballot secrecy
Solution Approach 1:
By storing authentication data and voting results in separate blockchains, the system maintains the immutability and reliability benefits of blockchain technology while preventing the linkage that would compromise ballot secrecy. Each blockchain independently ensures data integrity without enabling voter identification.
Data Source
AI summary
A method controls one of a plurality of voting servers in an electronic voting system. The method includes receiving, from one or more terminals, one or more voting data including a first identifier (ID) associated with a vote cast by a voter and voting information indicating the vote. The method also includes generating a block including the one or more voting data when the one or more voting data satisfies a predetermined criterion of anonymization, and connecting the block to a blockchain stored in a memory.