Coercion-free voting scheme

• US 7,389,250 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2003
• Issued: 06/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: FederatedIdentity.com Inc.
• Original Assignee: FederatedIdentity.com Inc.
• Inventors: Neff, C. Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
• Application Number:
  US10/367,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20030154124A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,950 Days
• Field of Search: 705/12
• US Class Current: 705/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/42 Anonymization, e.g. involving pseudonyms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/463 Electronic voting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3218 using proof of knowledge, e.g. Fiat-Shamir, GQ, Schnorr, ornon-interactive zero-knowledge proofs

Abstract

A facility for conducting a coercion-resistant electronic collection is described. The facility receives from the voter a first voter conformation value. At a later time, the facility receives from the voter an encrypted ballot and a second voter confirmation value. Without regard for the value of the received second voter confirmation value, the facility adds the received ballot to a publicly-available list of cast ballots. After the addition, members of the public are able to verify the addition of the received ballot to the list without being able to determine whether the ballot will be counted. The facility counts the ballot if and only the second voter confirmation value received with the ballot matches the received first voter confirmation value.

Claims

1. A method for conducting a coercion-resistant electronic election performed in a computing system, comprising:

in the computing system, receiving from the voter a first voter confirmation value;

in the computing system, after receiving the first voter confirmation value, receiving from the voter an encrypted ballot associated with the identity of the user and a second voter confirmation value associated with the identity of the user, the second voter confirmation value being formed based upon input from the voter, enabling the voter to determine whether the ballot will be counted by varying the input;

in the computing system, without regard for the value of the received second voter confirmation value, adding the received ballot to a publicly-available list of cast ballots, such that members of the public are able to verify the addition of the received ballot to the list without being able to determine whether the ballot will be counted;

dissociating the identity of the voter from the encrypted ballot and second voter confirmation value;

after the dissociating, determining whether the second voter confirmation value received with the ballot matches the received first voter confirmation value; and

in the computing system, counting the ballot if and only if the second voter confirmation value received with the ballot matches the received first voter confirmation value.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the encrypted ballot and the second voter confirmation value are received together from the voter.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the first and second voter confirmation values match if they are cryptographically related in a manner specified at a time before the first voter confirmation value is received from the voter.

4. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing system to conduct a coercion-resistant electronic election by:

receiving from the voter a first voter confirmation value;

after receiving the first voter confirmation value, receiving from the voter an encrypted ballot associated with the identity of the user and a second voter confirmation value associated with the identity of the user, the second voter confirmation value being formed based upon input from the voter, enabling the voter to determine whether the ballot will be counted by varying the input;

adding the received ballot to a publicly-available list of cast ballots, such that members of the public are able to verify the addition of the received ballot to the list without being able to determine whether the ballot will be counted;

dissociating the identity of the voter from the encrypted ballot and second voter confirmation value;

after the dissociating, determining whether the second voter confirmation value received with the ballot matches the received first voter confirmation value; and

counting the ballot if and only if the second voter confirmation value received with the ballot matches the received first voter confirmation value.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein the encrypted ballot and the second voter confirmation value are received together from the voter.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein the contents of the computer-readable medium further cause the computing system to determine that the first and second voter confirmation values match if they are cryptographically related in a manner specified at a time before the first voter confirmation value is received from the voter.