eVoto
The introduction of electronic voting (e-voting) in National Election Systems has recently received a significant interest in several countries (e.g. USA, Canada, UK, Portugal). The studies conducted until today clearly demonstrate that this type of system is perceived as having a high level of risk. As researchers in the complex systems, organization and software engineering fields, we are trying to analyze the problems associated to general e-voting systems, relating them with the system architecture and components, and finding new ways to deploy systems with reduced risk levels.
This problem is a challenging one, since it will be necessary to identify the multiple dimensions that characterize e-voting systems and associated risks. These risks do not roll up from one specific research topic, but rather have a strong multidisciplinary nature. This project does not aim at tackling one or two well-known issues, e.g. security, but leaving the whole problem unsolved. On the contrary, our perspective is that a whole new integrated architecture must be developed, one that is capable to tackle the intrinsic complex nature of e-voting systems.
This new approach must be multidisciplinary, since problems with e-voting lay in different research areas, such as distributed systems, information security, HCI, software design or organizationware. This new approach must also be visionary, since most of the problems with e-voting are large-scale in several dimensions (users, components, requirements, risks). Our proposed solution will consist of an architectural framework with high-level components conceived for handling risk in e-voting systems.
This project will integrate teams from the following research areas:
- Complex systems architecture specification (ADETTI, STAPE, ITIJ) with specialists in National Election Systems, organizationware, complex systems analysis and modeling to define the main lines of an e-voting system that fill legal, social and technical requirements
- Software systems design (FCUL, ITIJ) with specialists in the development of complex socio-technical systems, new analysis and design techniques such as participatory design, low-fidelity prototyping and application of use- and misuse-cases
- Human-computer interaction (FCUL, STAPE) with experts in HCI, usability engineering, accessibility and multimodal interactions
- Information security (IEETA, ADETTI, INESC) with experts in designing and building information security systems and strong authentication mechanisms
- Distributed systems (INESC, IEETA) with specialists in large-scale systems, Internet technology and secure voting protocols.
The project will be organized according to three major areas of concern: 1) security-related risks; 2) community-related risks; and 3) usefulness-related risks.
Sponsoring bodies: FCT (POSI/EIA/57038/2004)
Coordinator: Paulo Ferreira
Partners: FCUL, ADETTI, INESC-ID, IEETA, ITIJ and STAPE.
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