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Crowdsourced integrity verification of election results

An experience from Brazilian elections

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Abstract

In this work, we describe an experiment for evaluating the integrity of election results, and improving transparency and voter participation in electronic elections. The idea was based on two aspects: distributed collection of poll tape pictures, taken by voters using mobile devices; and crowdsourced comparison of these pictures with the partial electronic results published by the electoral authority. The solution allowed voters to verify if results were correctly transmitted to the central tabulator without manipulation, with granularity of individual polling places. We present results, discuss limitations of the approach and future perspectives, considering the context of the previous Brazilian presidential elections of 2014, where the proposed solution was employed for the first time. In particular, with the aid of our project, voters were able to verify 1.6 % of the total poll tapes, amounting to 4.1 % of the total votes, which prompted the electoral authority to announce improved support for automated verification in the next elections. While the case study relies on the typical workflow of a paperless DRE-based election, the approach can be improved and adapted to other types of voting technology.

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Notes

  1. In Portuguese, the zero tape is called zerésima, a neologism analogous to zeroth.

  2. https://www.ndi.org/

  3. A possible English translation is YouInspect, referring to the possibility of each individual voter to act like a political party inspector.

  4. http://www.imagemagick.org/

  5. http://www.fmwconcepts.com/imagemagick/textcleaner/

  6. From the Portuguese Resumo da Correspondência

  7. http://www.tse.jus.br/eleicoes/eleicoes-2014/boletim-de-urna-na-web

References

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  2. Superior Electoral Court. 2014 elections will have more than 534 thousand voting machines (in Portuguese). http://www.tse.jus.br/noticias-tse/2013/Setembro/serie-urna-eletronica-eleicoes-2014-contarao-com-mais-de-534-mil-maquinas

  3. Superior Electoral Court. Specifications for Cryptography and Hardware/Software Security of Voting Machines – UE2015 (in Portuguese). http://www.justicaeleitoral.jus.br/arquivos/tse-anexo-iv-especificacoes-de-criptografia-e-seguranca-de-hardware-e-software

  4. Federal Data Processing Service (SERPRO) (2013) A more secure vote (in Portuguese). In: SERPRO Magazine, no. 220. http://gps.serpro.gov.br/pub/serpro/?numero=220

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  6. Superior Electoral Court. Votes will be transmitted by satellite in more then 1,2 thousand remote locations (in Portuguese). http://www.tse.jus.br/imprensa/noticias-tse/2014/Setembro/eleicoes-2014-votos-serao-transmitidos-via-satelite-em-mais-de-1-2-mil-localidades-remotas

  7. Superior Electoral Court. Voting machine and biometrics. http://www.tse.jus.br/eleicoes/biometria-e-urna-eletronica

  8. Supreme Court. Law mandating paper records in 2014 is unconstitutional, according to Supreme Couts decision (in Portuguese). http://www.stf.jus.br/portal/cms/verNoticiaDetalhe.asp?idConteudo=252858

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the 1148 crowdfunding donators and more than 6000 mobile app users that made this project possible, and all the voters involved in the tedious task of comparing pictures with official elections results. We thank J. Alex Halderman for feedback regarding technical aspects of the project and moral support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Computing, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

    Diego F. Aranha, Helder Ribeiro & André Luis Ogando Paraense

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  1. Diego F. Aranha
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  2. Helder Ribeiro
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  3. André Luis Ogando Paraense
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diego F. Aranha.

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Aranha, D.F., Ribeiro, H. & Paraense, A.L.O. Crowdsourced integrity verification of election results. Ann. Telecommun. 71, 287–297 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12243-016-0511-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12243-016-0511-1

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