Paillier Cryptosystem Based ChainNode for Secure Electronic Voting

Abstract

Blockchain is a distributed and decentralized ledger of transactions that are linked together cryptographically leading to immutability and tamper-resistance, thereby ensuring the integrity of data. Due to the ability of blockchain to guarantee the integrity of data, it has found wide-range adoption in electronic voting (e-voting) systems in recent years, this is in a bid to prevent manipulation of votes. However, due to the distributed nature of the blockchain, opportunities arise for privacy intrusion of the data being secured. The translation of this privacy flaw in blockchain to e-voting systems is the possibility of violation of the privacy of the electorates. Consequently, in a bid to achieve integrity and privacy of votes in e-voting, this study presents the use of an open-source blockchain system, coupled with a privacy-oriented cryptosystem known as the Paillier cryptosystem, towards addressing the privacy concerns of the blockchain. The performance of the system was evaluated and a transaction throughput of 1424 tps was obtained for ten thousand simulated ballot transactions. Further evaluation was carried out on the system, by increasing the number of system transactions. This showed that the mining time of the blockchain increased by an average factor of 0.18 s for every thousand increases in the number of transactions. Also, the response time of the system to a range of user actions was evaluated over an increasing number of voters. Results obtained showed that the response time of the system for vote casting operations increased by an average of 0.33 min per thousand voters while for vote tallying there was an increase in response time by an average of 0.848 min per thousand voters. The scientific value of this study is the development of an integrity and privacy-preserving e-voting system consisting of an open-source nodechain coupled with a privacy-oriented cryptosystem known as the Paillier cryptosystem following the security requirements of e-voting systems. The proposed system addresses the issue of integrity in e-voting while still maintaining the privacy of the electorates.

Improving the End to End Protection in E-voting using BVM - Blockchain based e-Voting Mechanism

“…The utmost significant result is that the BVM steadily accomplishes the least verification delay throughout overall examined circumstances, nevertheless of the total voters contained. Consequently, the BVM illustrates an notable 55% decrease in verification delay effectiveness when related to the prior approach, [55], for entire voter arrangements observed in this work. Yet, an essential examination is the diverse pattern in the nature of both the BVM and [55] for verification delay.…”

“…Consequently, the BVM illustrates an notable 55% decrease in verification delay effectiveness when related to the prior approach, [55], for entire voter arrangements observed in this work. Yet, an essential examination is the diverse pattern in the nature of both the BVM and [55] for verification delay. The BVM displays a linear increment in delay as the number of voters increases, suggesting that its performance scales predictably and smoothly with the number of voters.…”

“…The BVM displays a linear increment in delay as the number of voters increases, suggesting that its performance scales predictably and smoothly with the number of voters. In contrast, the prior approach, [55], experiences a sudden and significant increase in verification delay after crossing the threshold of 6000 voters. Prior to this point, both the BVM and [55] maintain relatively stable levels of verification delay.…”

“…Evaluating these metrics allows for the identification of potential bottlenecks or issues within the system and provides valuable insights for optimizing its performance. The performance evaluation of the BVM (as compared to the previous approach referenced as [55]) reveals some significant findings. According to Table 3 and Figure 12, the BVM consistently exhibits the highest throughput (in TPS) across various transactions.…”

“…This demonstrates a growing awareness of the benefits and possibilities that blockchain technology offers in enhancing the integrity, transparency, and accessibility of voting systems in the digital age [53,56]. Some of the blockchain related e-voting mechanisms do not confirm the legitimacy of the information size of the transaction, which creates it hard to assure the privileges of the data vendor [55,57].…”