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End-to-End Voting with Non-Permissioned and Permissioned Ledgers

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Abstract

We propose a decentralised end-to-end voting platform (from voter to candidate) based on the block-chain technology. In particular, we study and exploit both the non-permissioned ledger of Bitcoin, and the MultiChain permissioned ledger. We describe the main architectural choices behind the two implementations, including the pre-voting and post-voting phases. Similar approaches are not as decentralised as our application, where it is possible to directly cast a vote to the block-chain, without any intermediate level. Benefits and drawbacks of each implementation are explained. The Bitcoin block-chain consists in a large number of already available nodes in the related peer-to-peer network; moreover, its reliability and resistance to attacks are also well established. With MultiChain we instead exploit a fine-grained permission system: MultiChain is a permissioned public ledger. Hence, with it we can also satisfy two more properties of end-to-end voting systems: uncoercibility and receipt-freeness and data confidentiality and neutrality. Moreover, we can avoid costs and price fluctuations related to Bitcoin.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Stefano Bistarelli, Ivan Mercanti, Paolo Santancini & Francesco Santini

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  1. Stefano Bistarelli
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  2. Ivan Mercanti
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  3. Paolo Santancini
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  4. Francesco Santini
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Correspondence to Francesco Santini.

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Bistarelli, S., Mercanti, I., Santancini, P. et al. End-to-End Voting with Non-Permissioned and Permissioned Ledgers. J Grid Computing 17, 97–118 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10723-019-09478-y

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