BroncoVote: Secure Voting System using Ethereum’s Blockchain

Abstract

Voting is a fundamental part of democratic systems; it gives individuals in a community the faculty to voice their opinion. In recent years, voter turnout has diminished while concerns regarding integrity, security, and accessibility of current voting systems have escalated. E-voting was introduced to address those concerns; however, it is not cost-effective and still requires full supervision by a central authority. The blockchain is an emerging, decentralized, and distributed technology that promises to enhance different aspects of many industries. Expanding e-voting into blockchain technology could be the solution to alleviate the present concerns in e-voting. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based voting system, named BroncoVote, that preserves voter privacy and increases accessibility, while keeping the voting system transparent, secure, and cost-effective. BroncoVote implements a university-scaled voting framework that utilizes Ethereum’s blockchain and smart contracts to achieve voter administration and auditable voting records. In addition, BroncoVote utilizes a few cryptographic techniques, including homomorphic encryption, to promote voter privacy. Our implementation was deployed on Ethereum’s Testnet to demonstrate usability, scalability, and efficiency.