Architecture for anonymous electronic voting using public key technologies
First Claim
1. An improved method of electronic voting over a global computer network comprising the steps of:
- requesting a voting ballot through a voting entity process using a public key and a private key of the voting entity;
validating said voting ballot request by a voting mediator, using a separate public key and private key of the voting mediator;
generating an electronic ballot by the voting mediator;
sending the generated ballot to said voting entity;
receiving a vote in said electronic ballot by said voting entity and sending said electronic ballot to a voting tabulator; and
counting the vote electronic ballot in the voting tabulator.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention discloses an architecture that enables anonymous electronic voting over the Internet using public key technologies. This invention provides a simple yet robust architecture for electronic voting over the unsecured network that is the Internet, using the public and private key pair belonging to the voting entity, not a separate userid and password for each election. In the voting method of the present invention, a voting entity requests a ballot using a public key and a private key belonging to the voting entity. The request is made to a voting mediator. Using a separate public key/private key pair, the voting mediator validates the voting ballot request. After validation of the request, the voting mediator generates an election ballot. The voting mediator sends this ballot to the voting entity. The voting entity casts a vote and sends the ballot to the voting tabulator. The voting tabulator authenticates the ballot and counts the vote.
59 Citations
26 Claims
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1. An improved method of electronic voting over a global computer network comprising the steps of:
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requesting a voting ballot through a voting entity process using a public key and a private key of the voting entity;
validating said voting ballot request by a voting mediator, using a separate public key and private key of the voting mediator;
generating an electronic ballot by the voting mediator;
sending the generated ballot to said voting entity;
receiving a vote in said electronic ballot by said voting entity and sending said electronic ballot to a voting tabulator; and
counting the vote electronic ballot in the voting tabulator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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15. A system for implementing an electronic voting process over a global computer network comprising:
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a voting entity said voting entity being a client process representing a person or group that will be voting in the election;
a voting mediator said voting mediator being a server process that authorizes and creates the anonymous electronic ballot for the voting entity; and
a voting tabulator said voting tabular being a server process that receives and validates the electronic ballot and tabulates the election results.
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17. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for electronic voting over a global computer network, the computer program product comprising:
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instructions for requesting a voting ballot through a voting entity process using a public key and a private key of the voting entity;
instructions for validating said voting ballot request by a voting mediator, using a separate public key and private key of the voting mediator;
instructions for generating an electronic ballot by the voting mediator;
instructions for sending the generated ballot to said voting entity;
instructions for receiving a vote in said electronic ballot by said voting entity and sending said electronic ballot to a voting tabulator; and
instructions for counting the vote electronic ballot in the voting tabulator.
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22. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for representing a person or group that will be voting over a computer network, the computer program product comprising:
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instructions for requesting an electronic voting ballot using a public key and a private key of said computer program product;
instructions for receiving the requested electronic voting ballot for the purpose of voting in an election voting the computer network;
instructions for receiving a vote on the electronic ballot, said voting being cast over a computer network; and
instructions for sending said electronic ballot to be tabulated. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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23. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for authorizing and creating anonymous electronic ballots for use in voting over a computer network, the computer program product comprising:
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instructions for receiving a ballot request;
instructions for decrypting the ballot request;
instructions for validating a voting certificate contained in the ballot request;
instructions for crating an electronic ballot based on information contained in the ballot request; and
instructions for sending a created electronic ballot to the source of the ballot request.
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24. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for tabulating election results for an election in which electronic ballots, submitted over a computer network, are used, the computer program product comprising:
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instructions for receiving encrypted voting information containing an electronic ballot;
instructions for decrypting the received encrypted voting information;
instructions for validating the electronic ballot contained in the voting information; and
instructions for incrementing vote totals to include votes of the electronic ballot contained in the received voting information.
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25. A computer connectable to a distributed computing system including a process for voting electronically over said distributed system comprising:
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a processor;
a native operating system to manage resources in the computing system;
a client program for representing a person or group that will be voting in an election;
a server program for authorizing and creating electronic voting ballots; and
a second server program for receiving, validating and tabulating electronic voting ballets.
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Specification