Description

Anonymous voting with pin codes

Online voting, with unique pin codes drawn blindly by the voters, breakes the connection between the voters and the voting system. Knowledge of who voted what does not exist, and therefore cannot be revealed. It is absolutely unique!

Also unique is that the voters, after voting, can trace all their actions with full preservation of anonymity.

For meetings with requirements for formal votes, general meetings, board meetings, parliamentary meetings, etc. ensuring anonymity when voting is of great importance. See Anonymous voting. Traditionally, ballot papers have been used, which are distributed, collected and counted manually. It is a difficult and time-consuming process, and the meeting is often prolonged unreasonably. Furthermore, the security in the system consists exclusively of the vote collectors and the vote counters. The individual voter has no way of checking whether his vote has been registered correctly. Also, changes agreed during the meeting cannot be on preprinted ballot papers.

Online systems can also be used, but they traditionally require voters to be registered in the system in order to vote. This breaks the anonymity. The system knows who voted for what. This knowledge is normally hidden from both the voters and the chairperson, but is found in the system and can be revealed by system error, user error or malicious abuse. In addition, the registration requirement can make voting difficult for those who do not bring an online device themselves.

The advantage of the new system - pinVote - is that the connection between the voters and the system is broken. Knowledge of who voted what does not exist, and therefore cannot be revealed.  Another advantage is full traceability with preservation of anonymity. 

Furthermore, any online device can easily be used at the meeting by those who do not bring one themselves, and the exact text voted on will always be on it.

Course description

The meeting's administrator creates the meeting on pinVote.com and provides: the meeting's name, number of voters, and e-mail address.

The system then automatically generates some unique codes: administrator code, meeting code, as well as a number of unique pin codes, corresponding to the number of voters, please note that pin codes can ONLY be used for the meeting in question.

The codes are automatically sent as an email to the administrator's email address. The pin codes are sent as a pdf file attached to this e-mail. The file is printed, and with scissors it is cut into a series of small notes, each of which contains: website, meeting code, and a unique pin code.

If there are many voters, several pages can be stacked on top of each other and easily cut at once.

The small notes are placed in a basket. Possibly they can be folded so that you cannot see what is written.

When those entitled to vote are registered at the entrance to the meeting, they draw a ballot blindly.

Using a mobile phone or something else, they go to the website - pinVote.com - and enter the meeting code.

After that, it is just a matter of waiting for the chairman to put an item to the vote. When that happens, the phone will show exactly what is being voted on and what the options are. When you have voted, you will be asked for a pin code, and here you must use the unique pin code that is on the ticket.

The above is repeated for each item that is up for a vote.

The eligible voter can see what he has voted at any time using the pin code. He can also see the total result of the votes. This also applies after the end of the meeting, until the administrator deletes the meeting in the system.

The meeting administrator

The administrator can enter in advance the items to be voted on, but also change the texts, vote options, or create completely new items during the meeting itself. 

When the administrator has chosen which item to vote on, he starts the voting. Then it will be written on all the phones exactly what is being voted on and what options are available.

When the administrator has asked if everyone has voted, he closes the poll, which is shown on the phones. It is then no longer possible to vote and the result can be seen by everyone immediately.

Additional benefits of the system

Any online device with an internet browser can be used

In addition to the advantage of guaranteed anonymity, it can be emphasized that not all eligible voters need to bring their own telephone or other online device. You can borrow one from the person next to you, or the meeting management can provide some PCs or something else that you can use with your PIN code. No program needs to be installed, only a browser is needed.

Remote Voters and Super Voters

Voting without physical presence is also possible. Likewise, a voter can be assigned any number of votes linked to just one pin code. This is referred to in the system as Remote Voting and Super Voting. The use of this functionality compromises the overall principle that the system does not know who votes what. The meeting management must decide what to prioritize.

In pinVote, a voter can apply to become a Remote/Super voter, and the administrator must then approve it. In practice, this is done by the person entitled to vote sending an e-mail to "robot@aVote.dk". In the subject field, you just have to write the meeting code, as well as a number for how many votes you want, if it is more than one.

The administrator can see in the system that there has been a request with name, e-mail and number of votes, and choose to approve or reject the request. In both cases, the system sends a response back to the sender. If it is an approval, the answer contains a pin code and information about the number of votes it gives. The PIN code is a new unique code that was not included in the first email with the many codes. The administrator cannot see this code. Only in the event of a system error or misuse can it be revealed.

Powers of attorney

One of the small notes can also be used to cast a large number of votes. For example, for use where a board has a large number of proxies. Then the administrator enters the PIN from the ticket into the system, together with the number of votes it must give. This functionality also compromises the overall principle that the system does not know who votes what, but a large voter, such as a board of directors, will presumably have well-known positions. Again, it is the meeting management that decides what to prioritize.