E-Votingusing Blockchain as Database ArsamPathan Department of Electrical and ComputerEngineering Cleveland, USA.
[email protected] Department of Electrical and ComputerEngineering Cleveland, USA. [email protected] Abstract—There is a need of improvement in the currentvoting system used since the development of technology. The current Votingsystem lags in security and transparency. There has been a significant changeafter the introduction of e-voting and mobile voting, but with new technologycomes new flaws, hence there is a need to improve the e-voting techniques toprovide essential security and transparency. database In this paper we propose the use ofBlockchain as a database to cast votes. Use of Blockchain as a database canreduce the shortcomings observed in current e-voting methods.
Blockchain is oneof the most secure and transparent technology that can be used as a database.It was introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, and was later used as a core componentof the digital currency Bitcoin. Blockchain has found many applications sincethen and researches are going on to implement Blockchain as a technology forsafe exchange or sharing of data. This paper proposes the use of Blockchain asa database for voting system which stores the voter’s information as well asthe votes casted by the registered voter, securely and maintains transparencyover the whole process.
Keywords—Blockchain, e-voting, database. I. IntroductionIn countriesfollowing democracy, elections play a major role in deciding a government.
In ademocracy, election is done through voting, hence, voting is a crucial event.There have been many ways to cast votes and with time the methods havedeveloped. E-voting was introduced a few years ago to increase number ofvoters, to reduce fake voting and improve security in the voting system.Electronic voting Machine (EVM) were also introduced for the same purpose, butE-voting precisely helped the voters to vote from any location, which as aresult increase number of voters. Security is a major concern when talkingabout the digital systems.
This security can be achieved by various techniques.One such way is using Blockchain technology. Blockchain technology originatefrom the underlined architectural design of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin 2.
Using Blockchain we can obtain a secure androbust system for e-voting. In this Proposal a Blockchain is used as a databaseto store casted vote and also the information of the registered voters. Thesetwo databases are used in synchronization with each other to keep a track thatno duplication of votes. The proposed method is discussed in the followingsections. II.
blockchAinSA. HistoryBlockchainwas first defined in the original source code for Bitcoin 3. It wasconceptualized by an anonymous person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto 2.It use the technology of peer-to-peer networking in combination with public keycryptography and Blockchain algorithm. it was first introduced as a distributedledger for digital currency.
the technology gained more applications with timeand researches are going on to implement blockchain in various applications.B. Working:The primary block of the Block chain is known as’genesis Block’ or ‘Block 0’ 2. The first block that is the ‘Block 0’ iscoded in the algorithm and after that a new block gets added to it if a requestis created. Every block that is created has a transaction data part 2, everycopy is hashed and paired with another hashed copy. this is continued till asingle has remains 2.
As explained previously, it works on peer-to-peernetwork, hence, when a request is generated a peer gets connected with anotherpeer and data or transaction exchange takes place. This creates a decentralizednetwork 2. The following figure 1 2 describes the Hash table.
Fig1. Hash table 1C. Blockchainas a Database: In our proposed paper we are using Blockchainas a database because of its highlighted features like decentralized network,data transparency and timestamping. This decentralization will remove singularcontrol over the system, and a small failure will not lead to a completefailure. The Blockchain database will store votes of the citizens and there canbe no changes made once the votes are stored in the blocks. In the proposedscheme we use two different types of Blockchain databases, one which store theinformation of registered voters, namely, their name, age, sex, address,birthdates, etc.
The second type will store the votes casted by the citizensand these two types of databases will be synchronised with each other so thatthere is no duplication of votes on the name of single candidate. The date andtime will also be stored. More detailed working of the proposed system isexplained in the following sections. 5. Proposed SchemeThe scheme that is being proposed in this paper is not thereplacement of current voting system. Infact, it is the integration of newsystem with current system.
This would help in providing many other ways forvoting so that it becomes accessible to majority of people. Thus, rather thanrelying on conventional mode of voting, one can have other option which can besecure. Subsequent portions highlight the important segments of the proposedscheme.5.1 Registration Registration essentially implies the verification of voter,whether the person is eligible for voting in the designated voting ward. Thisis the first step in ensuring security within voting system.
It is well knownfact that every vote counts and there should not be case of bogus voting. The proposeddesign for the registration is asshown below:For letting the users to register to vote in proposed servicewill require information to be filled in both forms-postal based and web based.This takes care of the voters who don’t have internet access.
The important data required are their nationalidentity number (an example would be AADHAR number in India which is acitizen’s national insurance number), residence address with postal code, dateof birth. This information allows the voters to create a transaction on thevoter blockchain in agreement with the government. After registering, it is on discretion of the miner to decidewhether to verify the user or not based on transaction analysis. Once theverification is successfully accomplished, they will then receive a voter’scard with all the information that the user is verified, they will be sent ahard copy of the ballot card with their information and a copy of the card onemail address, if mentioned on the form. A password, which is randomlygenerated is also sent to the voters which will then be used on the pollingstations.
Once this correspondence has been sent, the miner will create atransaction giving the user a vote from an infinite government pool of votes onthe voter blockchain. An important function of the voter blockchain is to keep atrack of both transactions involved in every step for each user. 1.
The transaction is created on registration by the user2. Next is done when the user’s right to vote is authorizedby the miner On receipt of the correspondence, the user looks forward tousing their credentials for voting at poll stations. This voter blockchain willnever consist of details of the vote casted by the user.5.2 Voting Mechanism and Architecture The underlying concept for the architecture is adopted fromboth the distributed and availability of the Bitcoin network and When decidingon the architecture we took strong inspiration from both the distributed andthe combination process of conventional voting.
The two distinct blockchains ishoused in the architecture which consists of multiple abstract tiers: National,state and city. (Appendix B Figure 5) The city tier consisting of all the digital polling stationsacross the country is associated to a state node. A city node is organized suchthat it can only communicate with the other city nodes beneath the associated statenode and the state node itself.
The state tier consists entire nodes which areat the state level. These nodes are interconnected and form a subset of thevoting booths depending on the location. The uppermost national tier is a union of nodes that are nottied to location, their sole purpose being mining the transactions and addingblocks to the vote blockchain. This can be created in such way that all state nodesconnect to a national node and all national nodes can intercommunicate. Therewill be independent bodies that will conduct monitoring and audit of the votingprocess. These bodies will have access to the national node to verify whetherthe unencrypted results match with the encrypted votes. The national node can be any individual or organization.
Theycan also be treated as miners for counting the votes. These applications mustabide by the minimum standards set by the government. The proposed scheme has an encryption methodconsisting public and private keys and implements a structure consisting asegregated data in the blockchain. The state nodes generate key pairs toachieve segregation. The connected voting booths are then informed about thepublic key and use these public keys for encryption of any vote made to thatvoting booth.
The information is stored in encrypted format within theblockchain and circulates out to the entire network. Each state consists different public keyimplying that major portions of data will be encrypted in a different manner. Thisensures prevention of decrypting the voter data by any random person before thedeadline ends.
Any hacker who is able to access the state private key can only decryptcertain portions of the blockchain without understanding the final outcome.After the deadline ends, the software within the state nodes issues the privatekeys which helps the blockchain network to decrypt the data. The votes arecounted in this manner. 5.3 The Voting Process A user is authenticated based on three important details:personal identification number (e.g. AADHAAR card number as in Indian citizens),the password sent to the voters after successful registration and finally theQR code on the ballot card. Different methods of voting will require the userto input the details in a different manner.
Any voter in a particular statewill be able to vote at a designated voting booth in city belonging to thatstate through the URL printed on the voter’s card or via internet. This is made possible through the state havinga web address of own and also an URL so that the votes are accumulated insidethe correct network. Another important aspect would be checking whether the voterhas already voted in the polling booth and this is confirmed only afterconsultation with the voter blockchain. In case the user has used their vote,the system will immediately respond to the user., otherwise it will allow theuser to vote through the voting screen.
Once the vote is selected from list of options which alsoincludes denial of vote as one of the options, the vote becomes a transactionafter the submission is complete. This vote will then be encrypted withcorresponding state’s public key. It is then transferred to the state nodewhich is followed by a bock addition and then the update is sent to all othernodes which are connected to the state node.
These connected nodes keep passingthe data to their peers until the entire network is updated. On confirmation ofvote, a transaction is then generated by the voting booth for removing theuser’s vote from the voter blockchain. The most important aspect of theproposed scheme is anonymity which is ensured by holding separate blockchainsfor distinct purposes- one, containing all the transactions about which usershave registered vote and which have not, and the second consisting the detailsabout the vote (the party for which the vote was casted).8 6. Analysis of the Design The design is aimed at reducing the potential attacks.
Thedesign is being evaluated and analyzed from all angles for all steps of thevoting process. The potential risksrelated to the scheme will be discussed and recommendations for mitigatingthese risks are provided. The first risk that comes to anyone’s mind is when the voterforgets their ID and password or voting card on the voting day. The voters willnot be able to vote as they won’t be able to log into the system. One way tomitigate this would be asking the voter to return sometime later in the daywith all correct details or any other backup authentication tool which could bethrough a phone call or regenerating/ resetting the password by sending a linkon the email id. But this makes it more vulnerable for the voting system to beattacked by the hackers. Thus, the chances of an attack through this design ishalf.
Another possible instance of an attack could be controlling the votingrate and manipulate the public ledger.However, there are very weak chances of such attacks as thisshall require highly automated machine that are expensive. An additionalsecurity of auditor is ensured through checking and tracking the number ofpeople in network with the locations of each node, which is lacked by systemslike bitcoin.
The biggest threat is the online aspect of voting which willinvite the hackers to exploit the voting by their devices in numerous ways. Tomitigate this, a special software can be developed which can only be downloadedin the client’s machine so that the connection with the voting booth issufficiently secured. 7. Conclusion The proposed design involvesmachines from both government and public infrastructure in a geographicaldistributed network. Two different blockchains are created, one for who hasvoted and the other for which party has been voted.
Separate handling of theseblockchains helps in mitigating the risk of linking votes from the certainparties to individual voters. Also, a track of who has voted and how many votesare present are also maintained with the help of these blockchains. Informationabout who has voted is will ensure that each vote is unique and the vote fromsame voter is not repeated. A 3 wayauthentication system allows a secure voting with minimum chances of hacking9.One important issue which emphasized is that the voter must not be forced tocast the vote to a particular party, which is ensured by submission promptbutton that is displayed on the voting screen. This removes the chances of anysort of accidental vote.
An encryption mechanismused in the design makes it nearly impossible for anyone to access all votewithout gaining an access to entire service network. 1 G. Eason, B. Noble, and I.
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