Modelling Context for the Design of Remote Electronic Voting Schemes

There exists in the academic literature, a plethora of electronic voting schemes(for example (Cranor & Cytron 1997, Juang & Lei 1997, Benaloh & Tuinstra. 1994)). Typically, proposed schemes are accompanied by a description of the properties that an implemented electronic voting scheme would be expected to exhibit. These properties are described informally as for example, “ballot secrecy” or “universally verifiable”. To evaluate the proposed scheme, these informal notions are commonly incorporated in a mathematical model before a proof is outlined demonstrating that the proposed scheme does indeed exhibit the necessary properties. A disadvantage of this approach is that the required properties for a electronic voting schemes are implied to be static, with each new scheme to be evaluated against that standard. However, the context in which a voting system is employed varies considerably. Voting systems are employed in a variety of applications, with varying properties required as a result. Even voting systems that are employed in similar contexts, such as different electoral systems, exhibit varying properties according to the priorities of an entity organising a vote. This paper outlines the perceived failing of the current approach to designing and implementing electronic voting schemes, with regard to the considerable variation in the properties required. In addition, an approach is outlined that models the required properties of voting systems with the intention of providing a basis for evaluating electronic voting schemes in a particular context.