I often notice a lot of mistrust from people who prefer paper ballots and are wary of digital technology. They fear potential fraud or worry that their vote might be visible to those in power. That's why I’m opening this topic for discussion.
Is it possible to build a fully anonymous voting system using existing anonymization technologies such as ring signatures, zero-knowledge, or MimbleWimble?
I invite anyone willing and able to contribute here. Please try to explain in simple terms, avoiding complicated mathematical jargon, so that even those unfamiliar with the technology can understand.
To be clear, I’m not talking about a centralized system (like Taxisnet), or something like Messenger/WhatsApp where Meta holds the keys.
I’m envisioning a completely decentralized digital voting system where individuals log in with their personal private key to vote, and yet no one—not even the system—can know who they voted for.
You are on the right track with this question. It needs to be open source, as well as decentralised. It needs to be possible for anyone to audit it, and also provide privacy. I have heard of projects moving in this direction, some look fairly good (can't remember what it was called right now). The last I heard about it was that it needs to grow through grass roots usage. So before it is ready for a highly publicised national election with tons of contention, it needs to be good enough for your school board election, or in your clubs, or gatherings. Then, as it gains awareness and proven stability, it can grow to larger and larger elections. Its not that it can't be done, its that nothing has established itself, yet.
I could imagine something where each citizen gets their digital ballot, and then for the election, submits their voting ballot for their candidate. Their entry is completely private, yet viewable by them. And, everyone can see their vote selection.
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You have the people who are afraid of digital tech, and then you have to people complaining that cheating happens with digital tech. You can never win. How much voting fraud actually takes place? I know trump complained about it a lot.
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