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Probabilistic, Coercion Resistant Electoral System Essay

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This paper will discuss probabilistic, coercion-resistant electoral systems and explain the POkerface system while mentioning other related systems and topics as well. It is a specific example of secure multi-party computing. It uses probabilistic encryption meaning that it employs the use of randomness that provides increased security. It is additionally zero-knowledge, which entails verifiability without any information leakage. This system is an application of these subjects of cryptography to an electoral system that promises security while maintaining a simple process. Analyzing recent electoral systems, this research focuses on the end-to-end verifiability, coercion resistance, and remote voting. This means that voters have proof that they voted but not their preference, thus disabling them from proving to a coercer what he/she voted for. This is a very relevant field to be researching with recent presidential elections where tensions and controversy are exceptionally high.
Other systems that already exist and try to tackle the problem of providing a full proof electoral system include:
ThreeBallot - was a system in which three ballots were cast, one of which marked the entity not voted for while the other two marked which entity was voted for. The receipt would be a copy of one of the ballots which ensured coercion-resistance and verifiability.
Scantegrity - involved using special pens that would reveal certain codes that were originally on the ballot in invisible

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