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An E-Voting System Based on Tornado Cash

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Emerging Technologies for Authorization and Authentication (ETAA 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13782))

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Abstract

We propose an pseudo-anonymous e-voting platform based on the blockchain of Ethereum and a coin-mixer, that is Tornado Cash. After an online authentication and authorization phase, the user receives a fungible (i.e., pseudo-anonymous) voting token that can be deposited to a coin pool belonging to Tornado Cash (TC), together with an amount of Ether (ETH) A that will be used to pay successive fees. TC uses a smart contract that accepts token deposits that can be later withdrawn by a different address. In order to preserve privacy, a relayer contract can then be used to withdraw to a fresh ETH address (thus pseudo-anonymous) using A to pay fees. Relayers solve “fee payment dilemma”, that is paying withdrawal fees by maintaining pseudo-anonymity. Finally, a further smart contract collects preferences and, after the closure of the elections, it automatically performs the counting of votes. All the front-end has been developed in a Web browser, by using Javascript and avoiding the voter to perform any command-line operation to prepare transactions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Smart contracts: https://github.com/ethereum/ethereum-org-website/blob/dev/src/content/developers/docs/smart-contracts/index.md.

  2. 2.

    dApps: https://github.com/ethereum/ethereum-org-website/blob/dev/src/content/developers/docs/dapps/index.md.

  3. 3.

    https://www.investopedia.com/news/what-erc20-and-what-does-it-mean-ethereum/.

  4. 4.

    Non-custodial wallet services are platforms that allow users to possess their private keys.

  5. 5.

    Web-connection of Tornado Cash to Metamask or a private wallet: https://tornadocash.eth.limo/.

  6. 6.

    With || that stands for concatenation.

  7. 7.

    https://tornado-cash.medium.com/introducing-private-transactions-on-ethereum-now-42ee915babe0.

  8. 8.

    zk-SNARK: https://z.cash/technology/zksnarks/.

  9. 9.

    Goerli Testnet Network: https://goerli.etherscan.io/address/0x454d870a72e29d5e5697f635128d18077bd04c60.

  10. 10.

    DevToken.

  11. 11.

    https://hardhat.org/.

  12. 12.

    https://github.com/tornadocash/tornado-relayer/tree/c838316436a9f87f8655087c34764b46e4b1491b.

  13. 13.

    The PoA is a consensus method that gives a small and designated number of blockchain actors the power to validate transactions or interactions with the network and to update its registry. Goerli is said to switch to proof-of-stake soon.

  14. 14.

    Using gas price to compute fees on 23rd of July 2022.

  15. 15.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4410743.stm.

  16. 16.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4904294.stm.

  17. 17.

    Web-site of the Bitcongress.org project: http://www.bitcongress.org.

  18. 18.

    FollowMyVote.com: https://followmyvote.com.

  19. 19.

    TIVI: https://tivi.io.

  20. 20.

    MultiChain is a bridging platform for cryptocurrencies and NFTs across blockchains.

  21. 21.

    https://docs.tornado.cash/general/how-to-use-tornado-cash-with-tor.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are a member of the INdAM Research group GNCS and Consorzio CINI. This work has been partially supported by:

– GNCS-INdAM, CUP E55F22000270001;

– Project RACRA - funded by Ricerca di Base 2018–2019, University of Perugia;

– Project BLOCKCHAIN4FOODCHAIN: funded by Ricerca di Base 2020, University of Perugia;

– Project DopUP - REGIONE UMBRIA PSR 2014–2020;

– Project GIUSTIZIA AGILE, CUP: J89J22000900005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Maths and Computer Science, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Stefano Bistarelli, Bruno Lazo La Torre Montalvo, Ivan Mercanti & Francesco Santini

Authors
  1. Stefano Bistarelli
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  2. Bruno Lazo La Torre Montalvo
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  3. Ivan Mercanti
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  4. Francesco Santini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ivan Mercanti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Informatica e Telematica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy

    Andrea Saracino

  2. Istituto di Informatica e Telematica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy

    Paolo Mori

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Bistarelli, S., La Torre Montalvo, B.L., Mercanti, I., Santini, F. (2023). An E-Voting System Based on Tornado Cash. In: Saracino, A., Mori, P. (eds) Emerging Technologies for Authorization and Authentication. ETAA 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13782. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25467-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25467-3_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-25466-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25467-3

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