A Decentralized Voting System
Typ
Examensarbete på kandidatnivå
Program
Publicerad
2020
Författare
Abdulqadir Ahmed, Fahmi
Engström, Gustaf
Hindawi, Omar
Tobiasson, Tom
Veltman, Melker
Wallgren, Oskar
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The target of the project "A Decentralized Voting System" is to investigate whether
recent developments in distributed systems can make a decentralized voting system
capable of replacing the current systems in place. The current voting systems that
are taken into account are primarily democratic electoral voting systems, such as
the Swedish national electoral voting system. To remove the single central authority
conducting the vote, distributing the responsibility is the primary goal of the
project. The voting system developed relies on several trusted entities where the
system tolerates conflict of interest to a specified degree. It is built using a software
framework for building blockchain applications. The system is capable of managing
all aspects of voting except the distribution of a digital voter card. A frontend
presents the voting stages of the application but does not offer an interface for election
administrators. The system is verified by several criteria that apply to any
voting system, but it is not capable of replacing a large scale election in its current
state.
Ethical aspects of digitizing and decentralizing are discussed, with particular consideration
to societal and environmental impact. Voter turnout change with respect to
age, privacy concerns and logistical solutions for the transition to a digitized voting
system are also discussed.
Finally, a theoretical replacement of the current Swedish electoral system with a
decentralized voting system could initially exclude a social group but would reduce
cost and environmental impact.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Decentralized , Voting , Election , Blockchain , Hyperledger , Sawtooth , Consensus , Transaction Processor , Distributed Systems