A secure electronic voting protocol with a simple ballot's encryption function

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new electronic voting protocol. It is based on the ballot's encryption function defined by Schoenmakers in 1999.We use this encryption function in a different way such that we reduce time, communication and computational complexity. In addition, compared to Schoenmakers' protocol, we satisfy the receipt-freeness property. For this, we rely on the protocol defined by Lee and Kim in 2002 and we use a secure hardware engine called SE. This engine re-encrypts ballots through the use of randomisation technique. Our protocol uses a simple encryption function which requires less computational costs than the one used by Lee and Kim. Our protocol becomes then more secure than the protocol of Lee and Kim. Moreover, an extended version with a multi-way election is provided to allow voters to choose between a number of several candidates.