PROTOCOLS FOR EACH PLATFORM

ARE THERE STANDARDIZED STEPS FOR ELECTRONIC PARTICIPATION?

DOWNLOAD

EVoting processes are governed by standardized procedures, the result of experience, and guided by the principles of transparency, security, fairness and flexibility:

  • Transparency: protocols, procedures and results are public.
  • Security: guarantees regarding the secrecy of the vote, restricted access to those enabled to participate, and the seriousness and efficiency of the process.
  • Fairness: ensures that all authorized persons participate under equal conditions.
  • Flexibility: generates solutions to any eventualities in a process, always with the approval of the corresponding Electoral Commission.

FUNDAMENTAL MILESTONES IN AN ELECTRONIC VOTING PROCESS

Our electronic voting processes contain 4 central moments:

  1. Constitution of the Electoral Commission
  2. Generation of Cryptographic Keys
  3. Voter registration and voting process
  4. Counting and publication of results

1. CONSTITUTION OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION

The Electoral Commission is the counterpart of EVoting during the entire process and is responsible for coordinating and executing the voting, ensuring its neutrality and normal development, and making decisions about it:

  • It validates the voting agreements, such as the electoral roll, ballots, authentication modes and start and end times.
  • Participates in and supervises the cryptographic key generation ceremony and receives the video of the ceremony in the case that it is remote and recorded.
  • Decides on aspects of the process during voting, such as incorporating or disabling people on the voter list.
  • Resolves inquiries or complaints from voters that go beyond the action of the Help Desk.
  • Participates in and supervises the counting ceremony and receives the final report and record of the ceremony.

2. CRYPTOGRAPHIC KEY GENERATION CEREMONY

This ceremony is public and takes place in the presence of the members of the Electoral Commission. An EVoting professional creates the public key, which encrypts, and the private key, which decrypts. If the ceremony is remote, it is taped as a formal record of the ceremony. The private key is divided into several parts, depending on the number of members of the Commission.

The President of the Commission begins the ceremony, the EVoting manager presents the vote, the ballot and the bulletin showing the participation in real time during the voting process.

3. VOTER REGISTRATION AND VOTING PROCESS

EVoting receives the electoral roll from the client, with the voters' information and their associated data. It reviews, corrects and updates it, with the authorization of the Electoral Commission.

The final list must be approved exclusively by the Electoral Commission

4. CLOSING OF THE VOTE, SCRUTINY AND PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS

The scrutiny in the EVoting electronic voting system is public and is carried out in the presence of the members of the Electoral Commission and those persons invited by the Commission. If conducted remotely, the ceremony will be filmed and the record sent to the Electoral Commission as a backup.

At the agreed time, the voting system closes, preventing the entry of additional votes, and the counting process begins. The EVoting manager introduces the voting and explains the process step by step.

He then loads the cryptographic keys, one by one, to decrypt the result -the equivalent of the "opening of the ballot box"- without decrypting the individual votes.

As a transparency measure, the results are projected on a table on the voting page, and can be viewed on the voting website by the Election Commission and any voter.

Finally, the end time of the ceremony is indicated and the Commission is informed that it will receive the list of voters and non-voters and the results of the voting, which will also be published on the website.

6 AREAS OF OUR PROTOCOLS:

1. PREPARATION

  • Basic voting information.
  • Operation of the Electoral Commission: to ensure the existence of unique criteria for the correct decision-making in the voting process. Meeting and coordination with them.
  • Card with a description of the basic characteristics of the voting, agreed with and validated by the Electoral Commission.
  • Test run of the voting during the previous day, with specialized external personnel to check that all the configuration is correct.
  • Cryptographic key generation ceremony.

2. CONFIGURATION AGREEMENTS

  • Prior to the start of voting, the technical details for the system configuration are agreed with the Electoral Commission.

3. INSTALLATION (IN-PERSON AND MIXED VOTING)

  • In the face-to-face voting, there will be specially trained polling station officials, as well as pre-registered and validated computers prior to the beginning of the process.

4. SECURITY TOOLS

  • Installation of servers with real-time monitoring systems, alarms according to the number of voters per second and number of visits to the different servers. Loading of tests with the actual voter list. Anti-hacking protection measures. Behavior monitoring.

5. OPERATION

  • Telephone and e-mail assistance throughout the voting process, with assistance, response and registration protocols, based on our concrete experience with voters.

6. COUNTING

  • The counting ceremony, whose protocols reaffirm the transparency and legitimacy of the process. They include rules for closing the ballot, entering the cryptographic keys, opening the ballot box and publishing the results.