Voting systems based on homomorphic tallying leverage the power of encryption’s homomorphic property to compute tallies. This unique property enables the addition of encrypted numbers without decryption. By applying this technique to voting, we can compute election results without decrypting individual votes, ensuring the secrecy of each ballot. However, there are challenges to overcome. We need to encode voter selections in a way compatible with summing, typically using vectors of ciphertexts where 1 represents a marked option and 0 represents an unmarked one. Additionally, we must ensure that the encrypted choices are valid, guarding against nonsensical or maliciously constructed ballots. Zero-knowledge proofs play a crucial role in verifying ballot validity while preserving ballot contents’ confidentiality.

Glossary

What Is Homomorphic Tallying?

Voting systems based on homomorphic tallying leverage the power of encryption’s homomorphic property to compute tallies. This unique property enables the addition of encrypted numbers without decryption. By applying this technique to voting, we can compute election results without decrypting individual votes, ensuring the secrecy of each ballot. However, there are challenges to overcome. We need to encode voter selections in a way compatible with summing, typically using vectors of ciphertexts where 1 represents a marked option and 0 represents an unmarked one. Additionally, we must ensure that the encrypted choices are valid, guarding against nonsensical or maliciously constructed ballots. Zero-knowledge proofs play a crucial role in verifying ballot validity while preserving ballot contents’ confidentiality.