Blockchain for Fool-Proof E-Voting Systems

Abstract

Blockchain-enabled e-voting system (BEV) is the need of the hour for many organizations and for democracies. With allegations being raised on validity of the voting system and mass protests, e.g., in the USA as well as the allegations of some hired tech companies interfering in elections of different countries, it is indispensable to have a reliable voting system to know the opinion of the voters. As paper ballot has its own issues of processing, safety and ease of e-voting is the way forward. Blockchain-based e-voting system can fix the loopholes that lead to voting frauds by first providing a unique ID to the voter and the eligible voters can cast a ballot anonymously at his comfort using a PC or smartphone. Second, the BEV’s encrypted key and tamper-proof personal IDs can help to ensure the validity of the submitted vote, if any discrepancy happens it can be easily identified by the modified blockchain. The blockchain-enabled e-voting system relies on the encrypted data transfer and storage on distributed ledger that can be confirmed from any node of the blockchain. The voter ID cards are issued to the eligible voters, this ID card contains encrypted files that identify the owner and allows him/her to carry out a number of online transactions; say, for example, for a single time voting a single “coin” can be uploaded to the wallet of the user account that can be used to cast their vote only once. The voters are allowed to change their vote as many times they wish for a particular duration, say three days till the voting closes. Once the user confirms the vote by using the verification PIN or credentials, it is verified for authenticity. In the next stage, the identified authentic votes are transferred to the counting server and accounted for as advised by the voter. A non-blockchain e-voting system may leave many points where the frauds can happen for example under reporting of votes received, selecting a few responses that favor some candidate, corrupting the data, or erasing the data rendering the voting exercise invalid, etc. Blockchain proposes the possible solutions to each of these problems of the existing e-voting systems in practice. The BEV can provide the solution to the challenges any voting system in any level of organization may face, e.g., no coercion of the voters, anonymity of the voter, proof of a valid vote, correct counting and accounting of votes, avoiding single entity control on vote tallying and election result announcement, weeding out ineligible voters. All these issues will be discussed in detail in the chapter. This chapter often uses blockchain currency analogy to keep the reader interested and makes it easier for the reader who is not familiar with the blockchain technology or is familiar only with the bitcoins and focuses on major issues like voter access and voter fraud. Some used cases are also provided to illustrate the benefits and challenges in implementing the blockchain-based e-voting system industry that has remained at the forefront when it comes to technology adaptation and it seems the case for adaptation of blockchain technology. Blockchain technology has appeared as a landmark revolution in data encryption and storage. The distributed ledger system allows the hashes to be available with multiple nodes any time and tampering and modification create a new hash hence makes it easy to confirm the authenticity of the data files and track the node where the changes happened. Blockchain technology promises a great future for digital data security for digital transactions be it informational or monetary. Industries that deal with information exchange between multiple stakeholders like aviation industry have found multiple applications of blockchain technology, and the adaptations in the industry are advancing but still there is a long way to go. In this chapter, we discuss various transaction situations in the aviation industry where the blockchain technology can be of use or have already been put to practice.