Title: Towards secure online elections: models, primitives and open issues

Authors: E. Magkos, P. Kotzanikolaou, C. Douligeris

Addresses: Department of Informatics, Ionian University, 7 Plateia Tsirigoti, 49100, Corfu, Greece. ' Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus, 80, Karaoli & Dimitriou, 18534, Piraeus, Greece. ' Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus, 80, Karaoli & Dimitriou, 18534, Piraeus, Greece

Abstract: Electronic voting may be a feasible option for several election environments, from closed-group elections to nationwide elections. Especially with online voting, people will be able to cast their votes through a web browser, from their home or any other location where they can get internet access. This paper reviews the generic cryptographic models that have been proposed in the academic literature for secure electronic voting and provides a comprehensive assessment, in terms of security and functionality, of recent cryptographic schemes that extend the generic models to support online elections. The paper also highlights several critical security and implementation issues that need to be addressed before online voting is adopted for critical elections.

Keywords: e-government; e-democracy; online elections; internet voting; security; cryptography; implementation issues; organisational issues; electronic government; electronic democracy; online voting; e-voting; electronic voting.

DOI: 10.1504/EG.2007.014161

Electronic Government, an International Journal, 2007 Vol.4 No.3, pp.249 - 268

Published online: 24 Jun 2007 *

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