06-05-2011, 02:53 PM
Abstract
In this paper we present a simulation model for amultifaceted online e-Voting system. The proposedmodel is capable of handling electronic ballots withmultiple scopes at the same time, e.g., presidential,municipal, and parliamentary, amongst others. Themodel caters for integrity of an election process interms of the functional and non-functionalrequirements. The functional requirementsembedded in the design of the proposed systemwarrant well-secured identification andauthentication processes for the voter through theuse of combined simple biometrics. Of utmostimportance are the requirements for correctness,robustness, coherence, consistency, and security. Toverify the robustness and reliability of the proposedsystem, intensive computer simulations were rununder varying voting environments, viz. voterdensity, voter inter-arrival times, introduced acts ofmalice, etc. Results of the simulations show theimpact of several parameters on the performance ofthe system. These results provide the propergrounds that would guide the decision maker incustomizing an e-voting system.
Key-Words: e-voting, modeling and simulation,performance evaluation
1. Introduction
Election is a process in which voters choose theirrepresentatives and express their preferences for theway that they will be governed. Correctness,robustness to fraudulent behaviors, coherence,consistency, security, and transparency of voting areall key requirements for the integrity of an electionprocess. There is a wide variety of different votingsystems that are based on traditional paper ballots,mechanical devices, or electronic ballots [1]. In atraditional paper ballots, voters choose or mark theirfavourite choices on ballots and place them inboxes, which are sealed and officially opened underspecial conditions to warrant transparency. Theballots are then counted manually, which is atedious process that is subject to human error. Withvoting via mechanical systems, meanwhile, votersmake their choices by pulling down on mechanicallevers that correspond to their favourite choice ofcandidates. Each lever has a mechanical counter thatreports the number of votes for that position. Thesemachines are no longer manufactured [1]. On theother hand, some systems use punch cards wherevoters punch holes in computer readable ballotcards. These systems are not reliable because ofproblems in reading cards and were replaced byoptical scan device systems, which allow voters torecord choices by filling in areas on the ballots. Theballots are read using a computer scanner and thenthe votes are counted automatically using acomputer program [1]. Finally, special-purposecomputers are used as voting machines where votersuse touch screens or push buttons to select choices,which are stored and counted or processed by aspecial program on the same machine [1].Often times, however, counting errors take place,and in some cases, voters find ways to vote morethan once, introducing irregularities in the finalcount results, which could, in rare cases, require arepeat of the election process altogether! Moreover,in some countries, purposely introducedmanipulations of the votes take place to distort theresults of an election in favour of certain candidates.Although such mishaps can be avoided with aproperly scrutinized election process, errors can stilloccur, especially when the number of voters is quitelarge. Quite often, international monitoring bodiesare required to monitor elections in certaincountries.The advancement of information andtelecommunications technologies allow for a fullyautomated online computerized election process. Inaddition to overcoming commonly encounteredelection pitfalls, electoral vote counts are done inreal time that by the end of elections day, the resultsare automatically out [2, 3]. The election processcan be easily enhanced with various features basedon the demand and requirements of differentcountries around the world. E-Voting is an interdisciplinarysubject and should be studied togetherwith the experts of different domains, such assoftware engineering, cryptography, politics, law,economics and social sciences. Although manypeople have worked on this subject, mostly e-Votingis known as a challenging topic in cryptographybecause of the need to achieve voter anonymity, andtherefore, to ensure his/her privacy [4]. However,many studies warn against the adoption of e-Votingbecause of many challenges in softwareengineering, security, and auditing
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