E-Voting, a technical perspective Dhaval Patel 04IT6006 School of Information Technology, IIT KGP 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 1 Seminar on E - Voting
Seminar on E - Voting Table of contents E - Voting Definition Requirement Voter Verifiability Ballots FEC Guideline IEEE Standard Conclusion Voting Technology DRE, I-Voting, Lever Machine Advantages and Disadvantages Voting Interface Approaches 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 2
E Voting Means A term used to describe any of several means of determining people's collective intent electronically. Any of several means Internet Voting By Kiosk Telephone Punch Card Optical Scan Ballot (Mark-Sense) 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 3
Scenarios Various kinds of e-voting polling station kiosk systems unattended remote voting (e.g Internet) Unattended remote voting promises a convenient way of voting from abroad, we however face a number of security challenges 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 4
Requirements in E-Voting Eligibility Authentication Uniqueness Anonymity Accuracy Verifiability Audit Ability Secrecy Minimum skill required for voter Minimal requirement of equipment Minimum Time required for vote Recount Facility 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 5
Voting Technology Plain Paper Ballot Lever Machine Postal Punch Card Optical Scanning Telephone Phone Electronic Machine Voting(Direct Recording Electronic) Remote Electronic Voting (Online Voting) 1857 1892 1960s 1970s 1978 2000 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 6
Plain Paper Ballot Invented By Australian paper ballot system - A Great Innovation Current Usage Problem Counting & Re-Counting Problem (Hand Counting) Problem with Disabled People Solution Let Machine To Count the Vote Australian ballot (U.S., 1888) SOURCE: DOUGLAS W. JONES 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 7
Mechanical Lever Machine First Official Use At Lockport, New York in 1892 Known As Myers Automatic Booth Current Usage + Points Privacy Automatic Counting - Points No Physical Record Exist that represent voter s intent No Recount Facility 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 8
Punch Card Types of Punch Card Votomatic Contains a hole beside the number of the choice Datavote + Points - Points Contains a hole beside the name of the candidate of their choice Automatic Counting Recount Facility Recount rarely produce same count The problems with punch-card ballots became well known after the state of Florida s 2000 US Presidential Election. 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 9
Optical Scanning 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 10
Optical Scanning Clarity + Transparency From Paper Ballot System First Invented By In 1937, By IBM Optical Scanning Mechanized Counting From Punch Card Type 805 Test Scoring Machine, sensing graphite pencil marks on paper by their electrical conductivity Scanning Method : Visible Light, Infrared + Points Quicker Counting - Points Error rates from using the wrong type of pencil Under Vote & Over Vote, Dark/light marks 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 11
Electronic Machine Voting (Direct Recording Electronic) - 1 It is an Electronic Equivalent of a Mechanical-Lever Machine Use of a touch-screen, push buttons, or similar device An alphabetic keyboard is often provided with the entry device to allow for the possibility of write-in votes The voter s choices are stored in these machines via a memory cartridge, diskette or smart card Feature Provided By DRE Accessibility & Prevention of Voter Mistake Provide Audio interface for visually impaired Preventing Over-Vote and Warning Under-Vote Avoid cost related with securing and producing paper ballots 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 12
Electronic Machine Voting (Direct Recording Electronic) - 2 SOURCE: SHOUP VOTING SOLUTIONS 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 13
Electronic Machine Voting (Direct Recording Electronic ) - 3 SOURCE: SHOUP VOTING SOLUTIONS 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 14
Electronic Machine Voting (Direct Recording Electronic ) - 4 Source : http://www.eci.gov.in/evm/ 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 15
Internet Voting (I-Voting) Registration Voting Counting "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything." Josef Stalin 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 16
U.S. Voting Methods 2000-2004 2000 2004 Punched-card (32%) Optical scan (28%) Lever (16%) DRE (12%) Paper (1%) Indeterminate: (11%) DRE LEVER? OPTICAL PAPER PUNCHED CARD Card Optical Lever DRE Indet Paper Optical scan (34%) DRE (31%) Lever (14%) Punched-card (14%) Paper (1%) Indeterminate: (6%) DRE? LEVER CARD OPTICAL 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 17
Source: Election Data Services 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 18
Voting Interfaces Election Integrity -> Recorded Vote Accurately reflect voter s intent Case 1: Butterfly Ballot Design Voter mistakenly record their intent. Need : Design User friendly interface with the Voting Machine as well as satisfying the above requirement Complex Interface Problem with Complex Interface Ballot Review of ballot design is difficult Required Extra Step Assistance for Elder People Difficulty with the interface was correlated with age and education. 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 19
Survey A University of Maryland study conducted an exit poll on voters using Diebold s AccuVote-TS touch-screen DRE machines in two counties in Maryland. 3% of voters encountered technical problems, 7% of voter reported that they were not easy to use 9% of voter asked for assistance using the machines Difficulty with the interface was correlated with age and education. 21% of the voters 65 years or older asked for help 5% of the voters between 35 to 49 years asked for help 16% of the voters between 18 to 24 years asked for help (might be largely due to inexperience with voting in general) The amount of assistance required does play a role in voter trust in a voting system because that help will usually come from a poll-site worker. Voters who ask for he risk compromising their anonymity, and voters who need assistance might be reluctant to ask for it because of this or just personal embarrassment. 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 20
Vote Recording How voter can verify the vote? It is recorded Properly or not.. Solution : Mercuri Method Voter Verifiability Ballots Source: Safevote Inc. 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 21
FEC Guideline Provided FEC Standard More Focus on Mechanical Reliability Coding Standard Design Standard Perform Logical and Accuracy Testing At Pooling Booth Complicated Design Ballot complexity (Display 135 candidate for election) Support of multiple language Ballot rotation (Limitation of the Touch Screen) Write-in votes Vote for many Changing the font size on screen 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 22
IEEE Voting Equipment Standard (1583) Provide technical specifications for electronic, mechanical, and human factors that can be used by manufacturers of voting machines or by those purchasing such machines. - Approved on June 14, 2001 - Develop an evaluation standard for election voting equipment that test the Accessibility Accuracy Confidentiality Reliability Security Usability 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 23
Help America Vote Act (HAVA) A Federal Law passed in 2002 to reform voting technologies and procedures, has raised the bar. It requires that by January 2006, all voting systems must: allow disabled voters to vote independently and privately allow voters to change or correct their votes before casting a ballot notify the voter of an "over vote" where too many candidates are selected produce a paper record that can be audited and recounted provide alternate languages for voters with limited English proficiency 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 24
Seminar on E - Voting Conclusions Voters trust comes from combination of the mechanisms and procedures we used to record and tally votes Use of the E-Voting also based on the perception of the people. Result of the Election also based on the ballot design Voter Verifiability is used to increase the trust of voter. Method like voting by kiosk, Internet, telephone, punch card, and optical scan ballot. 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 25
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Seminar on E - Voting Thank you for your attention School of Information Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 2/2/2005 patelc@sit.iitkgp.ernet.in 27