Page 108 - Towards Trustworthy Elections New Directions in Electronic Voting by Ed Gerck (auth.), David Chaum, Markus Jakobsson, Ronald L. Rivest, Peter Y. A. Ryan, Josh Benaloh, Miroslaw Kutylowski, Ben Adida ( (z-lib.org (1)
P. 108

S. Bruck, D. Jefferson, and R.L. Rivest
                          100
                            Roughly, voting with a Frog works as follows:
                            First, when a voter arrives at a poll site to vote, she identifies herself (and
                          authenticates herself as necessary) to an election official. The election official
                          takes a blank Frog, “initializes” it, and gives it to the voter. Alternatively, the
                          voter arrives with a Frog.
                            Second, the voter places her Frog in the appropriate “vote-capture” equipment
                          and makes her choices, which are recorded on the Frog.
                            Third, the voter then takes her Frog from the vote-capture equipment to the
                          “vote-casting” equipment, confirms her selections, and then casts her vote. Her
                          Frog is “taken hostage” and retained as part of the audit trail.
                            These steps should take place privately, so that the voter’s vote cannot be
                          observed.
                          2   Frog Initialization

                          Initializing a Frog records on the Frog the identity of the authorizing election
                          official. It also specifies the election and precinct, the corresponding ballot style
                          (that is, which races and candidates are to be presented to the voter), the lan-
                          guage to use, and what candidate rotation parameters (if any) are to be used.
                          The identity of the voter is not recorded.
                            We imagine that the election official has a small device for initializing Frogs as
                          necessary. Each election official may have a unique “key” that must be inserted
                          in order to operate the device, which specifies the official’s identity, and which
                          counts the number of Frogs initialized by each official that utilizes that device.
                            In short, initializing a Frog is similar to having ballots “printed on demand.”

                          3   Vote Capture


                          When a voter puts an initialized Frog into the vote entry equipment, it presents
                          the voter with the appropriate ballot choices, and allows the voter to enter her
                          selections. The voter is given generous feedback at all stages, and may change
                          her vote easily.
                            In a paper-based system, the Frog may be a scannable paper ballot. Marking
                          the paper ballot is the vote-capture stage.
                            In an electronic system, the vote-capture stage consists of a session at an
                          electronic screen or with a personal computer (PC). When the voter is satisfied
                          with her choices, she pushes a “vote-entry finished” button that causes the voter’s
                          choices to be recorded on the Frog. The voter removes the Frog so that she may
                          place it in the vote-casting equipment.


                          4   Vote Casting

                          The vote-casting equipment has five functions when the voter casts her vote.
                          The first is vote-confirmation. The Frog is “read” (scanned, electronically read,
   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113