Blockchain Based Decentralised Voting System

Dharshini S1, Swathi S S2, Dharunkumar B S3,Ashok M S4

1,2,3,4,Students, Department of Aritificial Intelligence and Data Science, Kongunadu College of Engineering and
Technology, Trichy District, Tamilnadu.

[email protected]

Abstract: The employment of blockchain technology in Traditional voting mechanisms commonly rely on
electronic voting (e-voting) systems is attracting centralized entities, which can give the opportunity for
significant attention due to its ability to enhance vulnerabilities such as the tampering of results or electoral
transparency, security, and integrity in digital voting. fraud. The decentralized and immutable features inherent
This study presents an extensive review of the existing in blockchain technology offer a promising solution to the
research on e-voting systems that rely on blockchain vulnerabilities related to traditional and other e-voting
technology. The study investigates a range of key approaches. Blockchain technology has the ability to
research concerns, including the benefits, challenges, create a tamper-proof and transparent platform for
and impacts of such systems, together with technologies conducting e-voting. Blockchain-based e-voting systems
and implementations, and an identification of future provide secure, verifiable, and auditable voting
directions of research in this domain. We use a hybrid procedures through the integration of cryptographic
review approach, applying systematic literature review techniques and consensus protocols.
principles to select and categorize scientific papers and
reviewing the technology used in these in terms of the The growing interest in blockchain-based e-voting
above key concerns. In the 252 selected papers, aspects systems indicates the importance of a comprehensive and
such as security, transparency, and decentralization are systematic evaluation of the current knowledge in this
frequently emphasized as the main benefits. In contrast, domain. One of the aims of this review is to identify the
although aspects like privacy, verifiability, efficiency, main benefits of e-voting systems based on blockchain
trustworthiness, and auditability receive significant technology through an in-depth review of the previous
attention, they are not the primary focus. We observed a research. These benefits include heightened security,
relative lack of emphasis on aspects such as transparency, decentralization, and privacy. Additionally,
accessibility, compatibility, availability, and usability in we intend to identify the challenges and limitations that
the reviewed literature. These aspects, although come with these systems, which include privacy and
acknowledged, are not as thoroughly discussed as the security concerns, scalability issues, and technical
aforementioned key benefits in the proposed solutions limitations.
for blockchain-based e-voting systems, whereas the
considered studies have proposed well-structured Moreover, a comprehensive understanding of the
solutions for blockchain-based e-voting systems focusing technologies and implementations involved in blockchain-
on how blockchain can strengthen security, based e-voting platforms is imperative in order to evaluate
transparency, and privacy, in particular, the crucial their feasibility and functionality. Furthermore, this
aspect of scalability needs attention. systematic review provides technical insight into common
blockchain frameworks, consensus algorithms, and
Keywords: blockchain; digital transformation; e-voting security and privacy-enhancing techniques used in these
systems; security; scalability; systematic review systems. In addition, we aim to conduct an examination of
the impacts of proposed blockchain-based e-voting
I. Introduction systems in the literature on various aspects of the voting
process, including security, privacy, efficiency, and
Blockchain technology has been recognized as a potential scalability.
solution for secure and transparent e-voting systems. By
leveraging the decentralization, immutability, and Overall, the purpose of this review is to conduct an
transparency of blockchain technology, e-voting systems extensive review of the current state of the literature
can prevent fraud and manipulation, improve voter related to blockchain-based e-voting systems. We look
anonymity, and increase trust in the electoral process. into the benefits, challenges, technological aspects,
Moreover, blockchain-based e-voting systems can reduce impacts, and potential research and development areas in
the cost and time associated with traditional voting the context of e-voting systems using blockchain
systems. technology. We conduct a combined review method,
employing the principles of systematic literature review to
choose and classify scientific papers. Additionally, we
examine the technology implemented in these with
respect to the already mentioned key concerns. The
evaluation follows the PRISMA guidelines [1], which
guarantee a rigorous and transparent methodology for the
synthesis of available research data. The PRISMA
protocol (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic
Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols) is a reporting
guideline designed to aid researchers in the preparation
and documentation of systematic review and meta-
analysis protocols

II. RELATED WORK

We introduce blockchain basics before summarizing

related work on blockchain for e-voting. From this, we
will identify gaps and define objectives for this review. FIGURE 1. THE BLOCKCHAIN STRUCTURE.

A blockchain is a decentralized and distributed ledger Studies exploring potential applications of blockchain
made of a sequence of blocks linked to each other. Each technology in the domain of e-voting aim to evaluate its
block contains a list of transactions, and each transaction feasibility, security, and efficiency in enhancing the
is a record of an event or action. The block header, transparency and integrity of the election process.
which includes the previous block hash, timestamp,
nonce, and Merkle root, identifies each block. The Taş and Tanrıöver [30] reviewed in 2020 the state of
previous block hash links the current block to the blockchain-based voting research, identifying potential
previous one. The timestamp verifies the data in the challenges and forecasting future directions. They
block and assigns a time or date of creation for digital presented a conceptual description of the desired
documents. The nonce, a number used only once, is a blockchain-based e-voting application and conducted a
central part of the proof of work in the block. The review of 63 research papers. The articles that were
Merkle root, a type of data structure frame for different examined were categorized into five main categories:
blocks of data, stores all the transactions in a block by general, integrity, coin-based, privacy, and consensus.
producing a digital fingerprint of the entire set of They concluded that, whereas blockchain-based voting
transactions. This structure provides assurance that once systems can prevent data manipulation and integrity
data are recorded in a block, they cannot be altered in the issues, the most frequently highlighted issues are
future without modifying all subsequently recorded scalability, cost-effectiveness, authentication, privacy,
blocks, making blockchain transactions immutable and and security in blockchain-based e-voting systems.
secure.Figure 1 represents an overview of the blockchain
structure with the chain of blocks that encapsulate the
transactions and secure them with hashes and other data.
These blocks are broadcasted and replicated across a III. Proposed Methodology and Approach
network of peers. This method is characterized by its
robust security measures through cryptographic Methodology
principles, which effectively mitigate the risks of
manipulation and fraudulent activities. The decentralized This review follows the PRISMA protocol to ensure a
nature of blockchain enables universal accessibility of transparent and rigorous review process and applies
the distributed database to all participants in the network, systematic literature review principles to selected
which is governed by a consensus algorithm. Therefore, papers. This systematic approach includes a structured
blockchain data are immutable; it additionally traces and review of the current literature on blockchain-based e-
validates transactions based on their origins. This voting systems. The objective of this review is to
technique makes digital transactions transparent, secure, provide a fair analysis of the available information using
and tamper-proof. Considering these unique a systematic approach designed to minimize bias by
characteristics, blockchain is an appropriate mechanism following common selection, analysis, and validation
for integration with e-voting systems. procedures.
The hypothesis of this study is that by applying the
distinct features of blockchain technology, such as
decentralization, immutability, and transparency, it is
possible to address the weaknesses and constraints
related to traditional voting systems. This idea suggests
integrating blockchain technology, and this hypothesis
implies that this leads toward enhanced democratic
procedures.
A search technique is used to discover relevant research,
which includes utilizing precise keywords and concepts
 that relate to electronic voting, such as e-voting, i-
voting, evoting, ivoting, electronic voting, internet
voting, and election. Furthermore, the search approach
encompasses blockchain-related terms such as
blockchain, distributed ledger, and DLT. Boolean
operators, in particular ("OR", "AND") are used to
combine keywords and filter search results, ensuring
that only papers that address both subjects are
retrieved.Search query: (evoting OR ivoting OR e-
voting OR i-voting OR ((electronic OR internet) AND
(voting OR vote OR election))) AND (blockchain OR
"distributed ledger" OR DLT)
The literature search was conducted using reputable
databases (ACM, IEEE, Elsevier, Springer, and Scopus).
The process of searching for relevant studies involves
initially screening titles to identify potentially relevant
ones. This is followed by a thorough review of the full
text of the articles to determine whether they answer any
of the research questions. PUBLICATION TREND IN BLOCKCHAIN-BASED E-
A number of exclusion and inclusion criteria can be VOTING RESEARCH.
established. Inclusion criteria are:
Papers that are directly related to or contribute to the Various studies recommend blockchain-based e-voting
comprehension of blockchain-based e-voting systems systems due to their benefits. We compare here the
are relevant to the title. benefits associated with blockchain-based e-voting
Papers should be available in English to ensure systems with those of traditional (e-)voting systems, in
accessibility and comprehension. terms of the requirements listed above for e-voting.
Papers with an available full-text version, which allows We categorize these benefits into major requirement
for a comprehensive analysis and extraction of data. categories, each further decomposed into several more
detailed specific properties, if needed. In order to extract
TECHNIQUES: these benefit properties, we employed a hybrid strategy
that includes both syntactic and semantic selection
Results—Benefits, Challenges, and Impacts methods. We extracted the properties from relevant
sections (Abstract, Introduction, and Related Work),
thereby ensuring a targeted assessment of the content.
In this section, we present results derived from the selection These properties were identified as general benefits of
process indicated earlier. Through the analysis of the data blockchain technology and advantages offered by
collected, our objective is to explore the research questions proposed -based e-voting systems, as discussed in the
and construct findings from the outcomes of the systematic related work sections of the respective literature in
review. We identified the final number of publications from comparison to conventional election systems.
each database that should be included in the systematic We now list properties identified as benefits in the
review by applying these criteria to the corresponding literature over traditional voting system types. We
databases.We present the results for each of the research provide further comments on sources and explanations
questions as follows: on each indicating how blockchains can achieve the
We address benefits, challenges, and impacts before benefits. Note that we order the benefits based on their
looking at implementation technologies and summarizing frequency of occurrence across the selected study papers.
future research in the following sections. Security: a major benefit of blockchain-based e-voting
For each, we comment on all properties mentioned in systems, where subcategories highlight a unique
relation to the specific blockchain perspective. perspective:
We also list the properties in the order of their frequency for Integrity: holistic assurance of security aligned with the
the specific concern across the selected study papers, design [45].
summarizing total occurrences and normalized numbers for Immutability: once a vote is recorded, it cannot be
better comparison. altered, ensuring the voting process’s finality [46].
Durability: robust against data loss and ensures the
permanency of stored data.
Stability: Resistance to disruptions or manipulations like
hacking. Stability is enhanced by strong encryption
systems, often inherent in blockchain technology [47].
Non-repudiation: a voter cannot dispute the validity of
their cast vote [48].

TRANSPARENCY:

The blockchain-based e-voting system’s inherent

design encourages open voting, recording, management,
and counting procedures. It facilitates independent audits BLOCKCHAIN FRAMEWORKS DISTRIBUTION
[49] and ensures that all transactions (votes) on the OF PROPOSED BLOCKCHAIN-BASED E-
blockchain are visible to all participants and can be VOTING SYSTEMS.
independently verified.
Privacy: the ability of blockchain-based e-voting systems IV. Experimental Results and
to protect voters’ personal information and the
confidentiality of their voting choices. RESULTS AND FINDINGS:
Anonymity: protecting a voter’s identity [50].
Confidentiality (secrecy): the voters’ choices are private, Technologies and Implementation of Blockchain-Based
and outcomes are not presented ahead of time [51]. E-Voting Systems
Untraceability: prevent the tracing of a vote back to its E-voting systems based on blockchains use a variety of
individual voter [50]. concepts and technologies to enable secure and
Pseudoanonymity: voters’ actual identities are masked, trustworthy elections. Blockchain frameworks like
but their voting activities are linked to unique identifiers Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric, consensus algorithms
similar to pseudonyms or addresses [52,53]. like Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, and Practical
Byzantine Fault Tolerance, and privacy-enhancing
DECENTRALIZATION: techniques like homomorphic encryption and zero-
knowledge proofs are among these technologies.
Refers to the distribution of voting system authority, Furthermore, authentication mechanisms such as
responsibility, and operations across a network compared biometric verification and identity management systems
to a central entity. This property is fundamental to are critical in confirming voter legitimacy and
blockchain technology and is essential for enhancing maintaining the voting system’s integrity.
confidence among citizens by minimizing control of a In this section, we present a technology summary in five
potentially corrupt third party [36]. broader categories:
Usability: facilitate an extensive number of voters Blockchain platforms;
casting votes in accordance with their choices in an Consensus algorithms;
effective way while being satisfied with the process [56]. Security and privacy techniques;
Simplicity: how simple and straightforward the system is Authentication and identity verification techniques;
to operate. Other techniques (cryptography, development, testing).
Understandability: clarity in system operation ensures
that voters cast their votes as intended. V. Impact and Implications

CONSENSUS ALGORITHMS: BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS

The consensus algorithms that were mentioned are The blockchain frameworks and technologies domain
illustrated in Table 5. Although a substantial number of includes a variety of platforms and tools used in the
papers do not explicitly mention the consensus algorithm design and implementation of blockchain-based systems.
used, it is reasonable to assume that for most proposed Blockchain frameworks such as Ethereum, Hyperledger
systems that use Ethereum as their framework, the Fabric, Bitcoin, and Multichain provide the foundation
consensus algorithm can be considered as Proof of Work required for developers to create decentralized apps.
(PoW). The following and most substantial protocol is Figure 4 includes a range of widely used blockchain
referred to as “Proof of Work (PoW)”, resulting in frameworks, including the proposed blockchain e-voting
approximately 5.2% portion of used consensus systems context. In all of the frameworks mentioned,
algorithms. In the following, we provide a brief Ethereum is the most popular choice, as evidenced by the
definition for each of these consensus algorithms 34.91% portion of utilized frameworks. Although
particular papers mentioned specific frameworks, there
are further studies, and no specific blockchain framework
is explicitly stated. Instead, they proposed customized
systems that are based on the general concept of
blockchain technology..

PROOF OF WORK (POW):

Commonly used consensus algorithm, including Bitcoin.

It is a technique that requires members, known as
miners, to solve computationally demanding puzzles in
order to secure the network and validate transactions
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