To Verify or Not to Verify,That is The Question

Abstract

Recently developed secure, end-to-end voting systems are designed to allow voters to confidentially verify on the internet that their ballot selections are cast and counted correctly. In response, this research paper characterizes both voters’ desire to actually use vote verification methods and the format of verification that users expected. 767 registered voters participated in a 2012 pre-election poll. Respondents were queried about their confidence in current voting systems, if they would want to be able to verify the accuracy of their ballot after voting in an election, and the preferred verification format to be used in future voting methods. The findings demonstrate voters’ confidence in current voting systems could be improved, possibly by being able to verify that their votes were cast and counted accurately. Voters indicated that they would want to be able to check on their votes in future elections. In addition, there was not a single form of verification that was preferred by most respondents—meaning a verification form that fulfills all users’ expectations would need to be developed. In order to increase voter use and acceptance of secure, voter verifiable voting methods, these findings should be considered when developing the next generation of systems.