Conducting a secret ballot elections for virtual meetings

Area of Science:

• Information Science
• Computer Science
• Political Science

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital communication tools for business, education, and daily interactions.
• While many communication tasks transitioned online, conducting secret balloting for virtual meetings presented significant challenges.
• Existing information and communication technology (ICT) solutions were popularized, but specific methods for secure, anonymous online voting were lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore remote identification and verification methods for ensuring voter anonymity in electronic elections.
• To investigate the feasibility of using these methods for secure secret balloting in virtual meetings.
• To present a functional ICT solution for remote, secret electronic voting.

Main Methods:

• Overview of remote identification and verification techniques.
• Exploration of these techniques for secret voting authentication.
• Development and testing of a digital system for electronic elections.

Main Results:

• Conducting secret ballots with remote voter authentication is technically feasible.
• A digital system integrating remote identification and secret voting was developed and described.
• The system was successfully tested in real electronic elections during the COVID-19 lockdown in Poland.

Conclusions:

• Remote voter authentication and secret balloting for virtual meetings are achievable.
• The developed ICT solution provides a practical approach to secure online elections.
• This technology offers a sustainable solution for future electronic voting processes, even beyond pandemic-related restrictions.