Towards Secure Virtual Elections: Multiparty Computation of Order Based Voting Rules (2205.10580v6)

Abstract: Electronic voting systems are essential for holding virtual elections, and the need for such systems increases due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing that it mandates. One of the main challenges in e-voting systems is to secure the voting process: namely, to certify that the computed results are consistent with the cast ballots, and that the privacy of the voters is preserved. We propose herein a secure voting protocol for elections that are governed by order-based voting rules. Our protocol offers perfect ballot secrecy, in the sense that it issues only the required output, while no other information on the cast ballots is revealed. Such perfect secrecy, which is achieved by employing secure multiparty computation tools, may increase the voters' confidence and, consequently, encourage them to vote according to their true preferences. Evaluation of the protocol's computational costs establishes that it is lightweight and can be readily implemented in real-life electronic elections.