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Vote Secrecy and Voter Feedback in Remote Voting – Can We Have Both?

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Electronic Voting (E-Vote-ID 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 12900))

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Abstract

The principle of secrecy is one of the most important tools to guarantee a voting process without undue influence to the voter. However, the concepts of the secret ballot and secret vote have strong ties to voting in a controlled environment in the polling station, and remote voting methods like postal voting or Internet voting need to employ special measures and approaches to achieve similar results. At the same time, limited options of observing the tallying process remotely potentially undermines the trust in remote voting. This paper looks at possible ways of giving the voter some feedback and assurance in the integrity of their vote, at the same time adhering to the freedom of voting principle. The Estonian Internet voting system is used as a model case for evaluation of a possible feedback channel architecture.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The COVID-19 pandemic had a positive side effect in this regard, forcing the government agencies to update people’s contact information in order to send out vaccination calls. As of May 2021, 1,260,203 people in the Estonian Population Registry had a valid e-mail address, and 238,162 did not. This means that about 84% of Estonian residents can be reached by email.

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Acknowledgements

This paper has been supported by the Estonian Research Council under the grant number PRG920. The authors are grateful to the Estonian Information System Authority and State Electoral Office for their support to the research process.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Electoral Office, Lossi plats 1a, Tallinn, Estonia

    Arne Koitmäe

  2. Cybernetica, Narva mnt 20, Tartu, Estonia

    Jan Willemson & Priit Vinkel

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  1. Arne Koitmäe
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  2. Jan Willemson
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  3. Priit Vinkel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Robert Krimmer

  2. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Melanie Volkamer

  3. Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland

    David Duenas-Cid

  4. University of Copenhagen, København, Denmark

    Oksana Kulyk

  5. University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Peter Rønne

  6. University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Mihkel Solvak

  7. University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Micha Germann

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Koitmäe, A., Willemson, J., Vinkel, P. (2021). Vote Secrecy and Voter Feedback in Remote Voting – Can We Have Both?. In: Krimmer, R., et al. Electronic Voting. E-Vote-ID 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12900. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86942-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86942-7_10

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