Librandus Whining About EVMs Again
How to end their complaint once and for all?
It’s the same story every election. One side claims EVM is rigged, the other side makes fun of them. After a week, everybody resumes their lives. Eat. Sleep. Next election result, same cycle repeat. At some point, the saner side of you must have asked, “There must be a common ground. What’s the solution?”
Good question. Glad you asked. Here’s a simple two-point solution.
1. Voting Super Machine: Combine Powers Of Computer and Paper
Both electronic voting and paper ballots have their own strengths and weaknesses. Both can be summed up like this — An electronic voting system is resilient against booth capturing but vulnerable to hacking. A paper ballot can’t be hacked but is vulnerable to booth capturing.
Essentially, we have a problem of one blind man and one lame man, like in the Aesop’s fables. The solution too, is in the Aesop Fables.
When we combine the convenience of an electronic machine with the simplicity of a paper ballot, we get the best of both worlds. A strongman can’t hack the machine and a hacker can’t capture the booth .The system is simple, you vote on paper, it gets read and counted by a machine. That way we are dependent completely neither on software nor on hardware, yet getting the strength of both.
Now you may ask, “The vote is still being read by a machine. How do you know it is registering the candidate you wanted?”
Brilliant question again. You’re on fire. Here’s the solution.
2. Vote-OTP: Confirm Your Votes All The Way
Honestly speaking, right now you can’t really confirm if your vote was counted. You can’t see your vote physically in EVM. In paper ballot, even if you see the vote, you are not sure if the ballot got replaced. You can trust that your vote was counted, but you can’t confirm.
Even if you could confirm, you can’t confirm openly because even goons will know whom you voted. So you need a secret way to confirm your vote like OTP allows banks to confirm you’re their person.
Imagine, if every vote had a unique secret code. You vote for one candidate, you get a code. If you vote for another candidate, you get a different one. If anyone tries to know whom you voted, all they get is that code. So your secret is preserved. Later, during counting you can tell this code to the election website, it will confirm if your vote was counted. That way you know for sure your vote was counted. That will put stop to all the crying about voting being rigged.
Now you may ask, “It sounds good. But is it really practical?” The answer is — Very. Once these steps are executed, Librandus will scientifically have no reason to doubt the results. Ever!!
(If you want to know more, there’s a whole series on it for FREE by J. Alex Halderman, a professor from University of Michigan, he’s currently consulting the U.S Administration for their election security.)