Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Trust in E-Voting

Oliver Spycher at Swiss Cyber Storm

Bern, 30th October 2018

2Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

E-Voting introduced by Cantons

3Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

• Trials since 15 years

• Open to 3.8% of the overall electorate (September 2018)

• Security first

Moving ahead step by step

www.bk.admin.ch

4Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

People need to trust that…

• Result reflects the voters’ intentions

• Secrecy of the vote is respected

…even if they’re not an observer

5Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Trust in Will and Ability

6Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Trust One Trustee

…out of many

7Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Trust in Will and Ability

8Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

E-Voting cannot be trusted…

• Transparency…

• …inherently impossible

• …only towards experts

• …eats secrecy

• No meaningful recounts

• And anyhow, administrations will fail

9Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Sure about that?

10Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Trust through verification

11Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Trust through re-verification

12Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Trust through verification

e-mail

13Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Trust through re-verification

14Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Summing up votes is verifiable…

Ja : 2

Nein: 1

…by checking equations

15Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Full Verifiability

Voters or observers verify that votes have been

cast as intended

recorded as cast

tallied as recorded

16Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Cast as intended

Taken from the online demo-system by Swiss Post at e-voting.ch

17Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Cast as intended

Return-code element

Return-code element

Return-code element

Retu

rn c

ode

Return-code element

Ballot-BoxVoter

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ballot-Box

Recorded as cast

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ballot-Box

Tallying

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ballot-Box

Tallying

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ballot-Box

Secrecy

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ballot-Box

Secrecy

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ballot-Box

Secrecy

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ballot-Box

Secrecy

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Secrecy

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Tallied as recorded

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Tallied as recorded

=?

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Tallied as recorded

Can be verified and re-verified

By checking equations

=

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Tallied as recorded

Full chain can be verified and re-verified

By checking equations

= = = =

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ja : 2

Nein: 1

Tallied as recorded

Full chain can be verified and re-verified

By checking equations

= = = =

=

=

=

=

=

Bundeskanzlei BK

Sektion Politische Rechte

Ja : 2

Nein: 1

Tallied as recorded

Full chain can be verified and re-verified

By checking equations

= = = =

=

=

=

=

=

32Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Ordinance of the FCh on E-Voting

Voters or obervers need to be able to detect

fraud, assuming that

• 1 out 4 trustees is behaving correctly

• Printing office does not leak codes

33Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Ordinance of the FCh on E-Voting

• Crypto-Protocol

• Proof of compliance

• Audit of proof

• Certification

• Accredited by Swiss Accreditation Service

• Software EAL2 / EAL4

• ISO27001

• Source Code Publication

34Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Public Intrusion Test

• Decision by Confederation and Cantons

• 1.Q 2019 enabled by Swiss Post

• Pre-Register: https://pit.post.ch/

Tell your friends!

35Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Conclusion

• Verifiability as a foundation of trust

• Required by the FCh ordinance

• Assessed through certification

• Documented towards the public

36Trust in E-Voting

Political Rights Section

Contact:

Oliver Spycher

Dep. Project Leader Vote électronique

oliver.spycher@bk.admin.ch

www.bk.admin.ch