BEE Blockchain Enabled Election System
1 UG Student, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, S. B. Jain Institute of Technology, Management & Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
2 Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, S. B. Jain Institute of Technology, Management & Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
3 UG Student, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, S. B. Jain Institute of Technology, Management & Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
4 UG Student, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, S. B. Jain Institute of Technology, Management & Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
5 UG Student, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, S. B. Jain Institute of Technology, Management & Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
6 UG Student, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, S. B. Jain Institute of Technology, Management & Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India ***
Abstract Election is an important event in democratic countries however massive sections of society don’t trust their election system because of different frauds involved which is major concern. Vote tampering, wrong calculation of votes and other frauds pollute the efficiency of voting environment. Online voting can be a breakthrough to deal with such issues. It has great potential to decrease costs involved and increase number of voters. Despite these benefits, online voting solutions have to be dealt with great caution because they might introduce unforeseen threats as technologies are unpredictable. Blockchain is a type of cryptographic technology that has nodes and ledger. The ledger exists in many different locations, no single point of and distributed management that will append new transactions to the ledger hence maintain security. Also, majority of the network nodes must reach a consensus before an appending the transaction to ledger making it tamper proof. Blockchain offers decentralized solution for e voting. This technology is a suitable alternative for general voting solutions. The project presents an effort to leverage benefits of blockchain to achieve an effective e voting system along with its implementation to achieve an end to end verifiable e voting scheme.
1. INTRODUCTION
Onlinevotingmaybeatrendthat'sgainingmomentuminmodernsocietyandencompassesapotentialtoeliminatethe requirementofprintingballotpapersorpollingstations.However,therearemanystylesofthreatssoithastobeaddressed greatcaution. the main focus ofthe projectis toformasafer, transparent,immutable, andreliable web application BEE (BlockchainEnabledElectionSystem),forelectionsatinstitutionallevelusingblockchain.
Electionsarefundamentalpillarofademocraticsystemenablingthefinalpublictospecifictheirviewswithinthesortof a vote. because of their significance to our society, the election process should be transparent and reliable so on ensure participants of its credibility. Blockchain is one among the emerging technologies with strong cryptographic foundations enablingapplicationstoleveragetheseabilitiestorealizeresilientsecuritysolutions.Itmaywellbeadistributed,immutable, incontrovertible,publicledger;offersadecentralizednodeforonlinevoting.it'sanappealingalternativethankstosecurity.This newtechnologyworksthroughthreemainfeatures:
•Theledgerexistsinmanyalternativelocations:Nosinglepointoffailurewithinthemaintenanceofthedistributedledger.
•Thereisdistributedmanagementthatmayappendnewtransactionstotheledger.
•Amajorityofthenetworknodesmustreachaconsensusbeforeaproposednewblockofentriesbecomesapermanenta partoftheledger.
Key Words: Keywords: Onlinevoting,Blockchain,security,verifiablee votingscheme.2. LITERATURE SURVEY
StuartHaberandW.ScottStornettacreatedtheso calledBlackChainin1991.Hispreviousworkwasworkingona chainofcryptographicallysecureblockssothatnoonecouldmanipulatethetimestampsofdocuments.In1992,theyupgraded their system to include Merkel trees that increase efficiency by launching more document collection in the same block. However,in2008Blackchainhistorybegantogainrelevance,thankstotheworkofanindividualorgroupcalledSatoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi Nakamoto has been identified as the mindset behind blockchain technology. Little is known about NakamotobecausepeoplebelieveitwasthepersonorgroupofpeoplewhoworkedonBitcoin,thefirstapplicationofdigital ledgertechnology.Nakamotofirstcreatedtheblockchainin2008,fromwhichthetechnologyevolvedandenteredintomany applicationsbeyondcryptocurrencies.SatoshiNakamotoreleasedthefirstwhitepaperontechnologyin2009.IntheWhite Paper,heexplainedhowtechnologyiswell equippedtoenhancedigitalconfidenceaccordingtothedecentralizationtheme, whichmeansnooneisincontrolofanything.
Electronicvotingisavotingtechniqueinwhichvotesarerecordedorcountedusingelectronicdevices.Electronic votingisgenerallydefinedasvotingthatissupportedbycertainelectronichardwareandsoftware.Suchregulatorsshouldbe abletosupport/ enforcevariousfunctionsfromtheelectoral systemtovotestorage.Several articleshaverecentlybeen publishedhighlightingthesecurityandprivacyissuesofblockchain basedelectronicvotingsystems.Laietal.Suggesteda decentralizedanonymoustransparentelectronicvotingsystem(DATE)thatrequiredaminimumoftrustbetweenparticipants. TheyhopethatthecurrentDATEvotingsystemwillbeconducivetomasselectronicelections.Unfortunately,theirproposed
systemisnotrobustenoughtoprotectagainstDoSattacks,asthereisnothirdpartyauthorityovertheschemeresponsiblefor auditingvotesaftertheelectionprocess.Duetothelimitationsoftheplatformthissystemisonlysuitableforsmallscales. Althoughtheuseofringsignaturesprotectstheprivacyofindividualvoters,itisdifficultformultiplesignatoriestomanage and coordinate. They also use the PoW consensus, which has significant flaws such as power consumption: miners' "supercomputers"monitormillionsofcalculationspersecond,whichishappeningworldwide.Becausethissettingrequires highcomputationalpower,itisexpensiveandconsumesenergy.[1]
On a small scale, blockchain based systems have sought to address issues of anonymity, privacy and security in elections. However, several additional issues were highlighted. Proof of labor, for example, is a mathematically vast and challengingtaskthatrequiresenormousenergytocomplete.Third partyinvolvementisanotherissuethatcouldaffectend to endverification,asthereisasignificantriskofdatatampering,leakageandincorrecttableresults.Large scale,buildingand ceilingblocksdelaythevotingprocess.[2]
Ablockchain basedanti quantumelectronicvotingprotocolwithanauditfunctionhasalsobeenproposed.Theyalso modifiedthecode basedNiederreiteralgorithmtomakeitmoreresistanttoquantumattacks.KeyGenerationCenter(KGC)isa non certified crypto system that acts as a regulator. This will not only identify voter anonymity but also facilitate audit performance.However,consideringhissystem,thesecurityandefficiencybenefitsofsmall scaleelections,evenifthenumber ofvotersissmall,aresignificant.Ifthenumberishigh,somecapacityisreducedtoprovidebetterprotection.Yiintroducedthe blockchain basedelectronicvotingscheme(BES),whichprovideswaystoimproveelectronicvotingsecurityonpeer to peer networksusingblockchaintechnology.BESisbasedonDistributedLedger(DLT),whichcanbeusedtopreventvotererror. ThesystemhasbeentestedandbuiltonLinuxsystemsontheP2Pnetwork.Inthistechnique,counter measurementattacks havebecomeanimportantissue.Thismethodrequirestheinvolvementofresponsiblethirdpartiesandisnotsuitablefor centralizeduseinsystemswithmultipleagents.Thedistributedprocess,i.e.theuseofsecuremultipartcomputers,cansolve theproblem.
e Voting Architecture(BEA)hasrigorouslyexperimentedwithapprovedandunlicensed blockchain architectures through a variety of scenarios, including voting population, block size, block generation rate and block transactionspeed.Theirexperimentshavefoundfascinatingresultsonhowtheseparametersaffecttheoverallscalabilityand reliabilityofelectronicvotingmodels,includingtheinterchangeabilitybetweendifferentparametersandmeasuresofsecurity andperformance.Inhisscheme,theelectoralprocessrequiresavoteraddressandacandidateaddress.Theseaddressesare usedtocastballotsforcandidatesfromvoters.MiningGroupupdatesmajorblockchainledgertotrackvotesandvotestatus. VotingstatuswillnotbeverifieduntiltheMinorLeadLedgerisupdated.Theballotisthencastwithavotingmachineatthe pollingstation.However,someflawswerefoundinthismodel.Itdoesnothavetheregulatorypowertoprohibitinvalidvoters fromcastingtheirvoteandthisisnotprotectedbyquantumattachment.Theirdesignisinaccurateandignoresvoterintegrity. [4]Overall,weproposetoimprovethesystem:
•WebsiteGUIhasbeenimprovedandoptimizedfornewusage
•EmailVerificationmakesitbetterandremovestheproblemoffakevotesinthesystem.
Theaimofourprojectistocreateanelectronicvotingsystemusingablockchain.Byusingblockchain,thevoting process can be made more secure, transparent, consistent, and credible. The blockchain based online voting system can overcomecommonerrorsintheonlinevotingsystemasitisbasedonthedecentralizationsystem.Therewillbeacertain numberofnodesconnectedtothemainledger,thevotewillbelimitedtoonevoterandiscalculatedifthemajorityofnodes confirmthefactthataparticularvotehasnotbeenregisteredonanyofthenodespreviously.
3.1 System Architecture
Fig. 1. SystemArchitectureofBEE
Voter UI is responsible for voter interaction and controller. Transaction Management is a key component of architecturewhereoperationsaremappedtoblockchaintransactiontobemined.Thismappingalsocontainsinformation providedtovotersforverification.Thisdataisthenusedtocreateacryptographichashandcontributetothecreationofa transactionID.VerificationofsuchinformationisassumedtobenefitfromUserEngagement.Severalreal worldnodescenarios areinvolvedintheminingsystemsothatthesetransactionsendupinaseries.LedgerSyncLayeralignstheMultichainladder withaspecificapplicationwebsiteusingsomeoftheexistingwebsitetechnologies.Featuredvotesarerecordedinthedata tablesatthebackofthesite.Votersareabletotracktheirvotesusingtheuniqueidentifierprovidedassoonastheirvoteis minedandaddedtotheblockchain.Votersecurityconsiderationsarebasedonblock chaintechnologiesthatusecryptographic hashestosecurefinalcommunications.Votingresultsarealsostoredontheapplicationwebsitewithaviewto conducting auditsandanyotheractivitiesovertime.
3.2 Modules
The system is divided into two modules Election Management Module (Server Side) and Voter & Candidate Management(UserSide)
Module 1 Election Management (Server Side) managestheelectionlifecycle.Manytrustedinstitutionsandcompanies have registered for this role. The electoral commissioner will determine the nature of the election and create the aforementionedelection,preparethevotes,registervoters,determinethelifeoftheelectionandallocatepollingstations. Electionofficialsmakenotes.Thisgeographicalappworkswithasmartelectioncreationcontractor,inwhichtheadministrator definesalistofcandidatesandconstituencies.Electioncountingisdoneinaninstantonsmartcontracts.Eachsmartballot contractcreatesitsowncorrespondingpositioninitsfinalposition.Oncetheelectionisover,thefinalresultofeachsmart contractispublished.
Module 2 Voter & Candidate Management (User Side) isthepartwhenanelectionisheldtheelectionadministrators mustspecifyadecidinglistofeligiblevoters.Thisrequirespartofthegovernment'sidentityverificationservicetosecurely verifyandauthorizetherightpeople.Asmentionedearlier,eachvoterreceivestheIDofhisorhervote.Eachvotercangoto thewebsiteforconfirmation.Thevotercanthereforeseehisorhervoteontheblockchain,whichensuresthatitiscalculated andcalculatedcorrectly.
Fig. 2. FlowchartofBEE
Usually,thevoterentersthesystemaftersuccessfullogin,thevoteristhengivenalistofavailableelectionsandthen candidatesforvoting.Conversely,loginfails,anyadditionalaccesswillbedenied.Afterasuccessfulvote,moreminersaredug to ensure that valid and certified votes are included in the public register. Voter security considerations are based on blockchaintechnologythatusescryptographichashestosecurefinalverification.Successfulvoteisconsideredatransaction
withintheblockchainvotingapplication.Therefore,votingisaddedasanewblock(behindsuccessfulmines)totheblockchain aswellasrecordinginthedatatablesbehindthewebsite.Thesystemguaranteesonlythepropertyofoneperson,onevote (democracy)ofthevotingsystem.Aftertheendofvoting,theresultsarecalculated.
4. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Enduserswillnotseemuchdifferencebetweenablockchain basedvotingsystemandanelectronicvotingsystem.Onthe otherhand,votingonablockchainwillbeafullyencryptedandstoredpieceofdataonablockchainnetworkthatisdistributed on a single server. The blockchain consensus process confirms each encrypted vote, and the public records each vote on distributedcopiesoftheblockchainblock.TheCenterwillmonitorhowvotesarerecordedandrecorded,butthisinformation willnotbelimitedtopolicy.Theblockchainvotingsystemisseparateandfullyopen,yetensuresthatvotersaresafe.Thismeans thatanyonecancountthevotesbyvotingviaelectronicblockchain,butnooneknowswhovotedforwho.Ordinaryelectronic votingandblockchain basedelectronicvotingappliestoorganizationalideasinstages.
The current Blockchain based Electronic Voting Systems applied to the following businesses and organizations, establishedbutdevelopedmainlyoverthepastfiveyears,areimprovingthevotingsector.Theyallshareastrongblockchain networkvisiontohighlightperformance.Blockchain basedvotingsystemscurrentlyhavegrowthproblems.However,their systemsdonotworkwellatthenationalleveltocontrolmillionsofjobs.Oursystem’sscreenshotsareasfollows:
5. ANALYSIS
Blockchainisanattractivealternativetoconventionalelectronicvotingsystemswithfeaturessuchassegregation, non disclosure,andsecurityprotection.Usedtoholdbothboardroomandpublicvoting.Thereareafewimplementationsof theblockchainvotingsystem,however,somechallengesremaininthesystemthatneedtobeaddressed.First,thelackofa simpleGraphicalUserInterface(GUI)makesitdifficultforpeoplewithlimitedcomputerexperiencetouseawebsiteandvote withonehand.Thiscreatesaprivacyissue,whichisanimportantfactorinanyvotingsystem.Second,usersofblockchain votingsystemsaregenerallyanonymouswhichmakesitdifficulttoconfirmoridentifytheuserwhoisvoting.Thisanonymity ofusersleavesthesystemvulnerabletovariousillegalactivities.
Toaddresstheseissuesourwebsitefeaturesaneasy to useGUIwithguidancenotesthathelptheuserfindhisorher waytothewebsite.Thesenoteswillbeprovidedintheformofwarningboxesthatwillappearwhenauserclicksaquestion marknexttoallthebuttonsonawebpage.Inaddition,wehaveusedanadditionalverificationlayerthatsendsemailtothe usercontainingtheOTPandthequerytheuserhasalreadygiventheirresponsewhileregisteringonthewebsite,thiswillhelp toidentifyusersmoreeffectively.So,afterlookingatandanalyzingalltheresearchpapersandworkwefoundsomethingswe couldaddto.Toaddressexistingproblems,ourwebsitefeaturesaneasy to useGUIwithguidenotesthathelptheuserfindhis orherwaytothewebsite.Thesenoteswillbeprovidedintheformofwarningboxesthatwillappearwhenauserclicksa questionmarknexttoallthebuttonsonawebpage.Inaddition,wehaveusedanadditionalverificationlayerthatsendsemail totheusercontainingtheOTPandthequerytheuserhasalreadygiventheirresponsewhileregisteringonthewebsite,this willhelptoidentifyusersmoreeffectively.Overall,weproposetoimprovethesystemby:
•WebsiteGUIImprovedandcustomizedfornewuser.
•EmailVerificationmakesitbetterandremovestheproblemoffakevotesinthesystem.
6. CONCLUSION
Electronicvotinghasbeenusedinvaryingformssince1970swithfundamentalbenefitsoverpaper basedsystems suchasincreasedefficiencyandreducederrors.Withtheextraordinarygrowthintheuseofblockchaintechnologies,anumber ofinitiativeshavebeenmadetoexplorethefeasibilityofusingblockchaintoaidaneffectivesolutiontoe voting.Thispaper haspresentedonesucheffortwhichleveragesbenefitsofblockchaintoachieveaneffectivesolutiontoe voting.
Fig.International
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