New Voting Technology Premiers at uOttawa
OTTAWA, March 6, 2007 —University of Ottawa’s Graduate Students Association (Association des étudiant(e)s diplômé(e)s) (GSAED) and On the Identity Trail research project are pleased to announce the debut of Punchscan, an innovative, trustworthy election technology that will be used in a graduate student election at uOttawa taking place on March 6 – 8, 2007. This marks its first use in an official election.
Punchscan is a voting system designed to provide security, transparency, and privacy during and after the voting process, and a voter-verifiable guarantee that every vote is correctly counted. Participants vote on a paper ballot with a Bingo-style ink dauber, after which, part of the ballot is scanned into a computer. Every voter is given a ballot receipt that can be checked online after they go home. With the clever use of cryptography, this receipt does not reveal which candidate was voted for, but it does allow the voter to verify that their vote was entered into the system properly. Using an open-source auditing tool available at www.punchscan.org, anyone can also verify that the system correctly counted all the votes in the final tally.
The Punchscan system was invented by renowned cryptographer David Chaum, who recently explained on BBC’s Digital Planet his motivation for creating Punchscan: “I don’t believe one can have a fair election unless everyone has equal and strong confidence in the integrity of the mechanics of how the election is conducted.” His hope is that Punchscan’s security, called “bullet-proof” by IEEE Spectrum magazine, will create renewed confidence that every vote counts. All the software needed to run a Punchscan election is open source, free for use in student elections, and available from the Punchscan website.
The Punchscan development team includes two graduate students, Jeremy Clark and Aleks Essex, who are in electrical engineering program at uOttawa. The project is sponsored in part by On The Identity Trail, a four year, $4 million Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded research project, led by uOttawa law professor, Ian Kerr. According to Kerr, “The roll-out of this new voting technology is a feather in the cap of the IDTrail project, and the University of Ottawa. As one can only expect from a technologist and innovator of the calibre of David Chaum, this system puts democracy in the hands of the voters, all the while ensuring voter anonymity, authenticating the ballots and maintaining the integrity of the voting process. What an honour it is to have our students involved with Dr. Chaum--not only in the development of this new technology but also in its actual implementation.”
GSAED is hoping the new technology will pique the interest of uOttawa graduate students, and increase voter turnout. Chief Returning Officer, Angelika Welte, noted, “One of my primary goals is to increase participation in the elections and make voting a good experience for all members and, as mathematician, I am also interested in the design of secure electronic voting systems. Both played a role when I decided to use Punchscan for this year's election.”
For further comment, contact:
Aleks Essex
Punchscan Team
aesse083@site.uottawa
613-234-3822
Lianne Pelletier
GSAED’s VP Communications
lpell081@uottawa.ca
David Chaum
Punchscan Team Leader
info@chaum.com
818-512-1024
Jeremy Clark
Punchscan Team
jclar037@site.uottawa
613-321-5196
Angelika Welte
Chief Returning Officer
awelte037@uottawa.ca
Ian Kerr
On the Identity Trail
iankerr@uottawa.ca
613-562-5800 ext. 3281