There are many applications for conducting online surveys. But what happens when you need to organize a legally valid assembly or election? Online polling solutions do not meet the necessary conditions for a vote to be legal in different areas, such as voting secrecy, guarantees in electronic identification, integrity of the results or end-to-end verifiability.
So, if you are looking for an app to streamline your voting processes - whether online, in-person or hybrid - you should opt for software designed specifically for this purpose.
In this article we explain the conditions you should look for in your app to vote online.
End-to-end verifiable voting applications
What does "end-to-end verifiable" mean?
In this other article we introduced the concept of end-to-end verifiability. Now we are going to tell you exactly what three steps it consists of:
- Cast as intended: In a paper ballot the ballots are official documents issued by the electoral authority. And if anything other than one of those official ballots is found in the tally, the vote is considered invalid. But when using an app to vote, the ballot is displayed on the voter's device which, on many occasions, is outside the control of the electoral authority. Therefore, voting apps must have a mechanism for the voter to verify that the vote he/she is casting is correctly registered in the tool's servers and does not suffer any alteration or hacking in his/her device.
- Recorded as Casted: We have already confirmed that the voter's device is not infected. What happens next? Online voting applications must have mechanisms in place so that the voter can verify that his or her vote is not altered once it reaches the servers. Typically, voters receive a voting receipt with a hash, an alphanumeric code that they can enter into a search engine to verify that their vote has been recorded without alteration.
- Tallied as Recorded: Legally valid online voting applications must ensure that it is not possible to alter votes at the time of counting. A wide variety of technologies are used for this purpose. If you want to know more, please contact our engineering team.
Finally, in some very critical electoral processes, there is a tendency to distribute the responsibility of opening the ballot box among different people using a distributed key. This avoids the temptation for a single person to consult the results ahead of time.
Secure voting applications
Information security (or cybersecurity) is essential in a telematic voting app. There are certifications that allow companies to speed up the purchasing process. But if your organization has an IT department and the voting that you intend to digitize is important, it is best to leave the evaluation of the different suppliers in the hands of those responsible for technology. At Kuorum we are used to dealing with IT departments and we speak their language.
Voting applications with all the functionalities you need
If you are looking for an app for voting in elections, you will probably opt for the provider that gives you more security. But if you are looking for an app for voting in an assembly or meeting, you should also confirm that it has all the features you need to make your event a success and there are no stressful moments.
Make sure that the voting application you choose has voter registration, access control, quorum calculation, and proxy, early and weighted voting options. It will also be important how the voting application integrates with the videoconferencing system in the case of online or hybrid assemblies.
Easy-to-use voting applications for all ages
Finally, the usability of the voting app you choose is essential. Voting events are often very stressful for organizers. You don't want you and your team spending the day troubleshooting issues from people who have trouble understanding how the system works. If you're comparing vendors, demand to see how the tool works and check that it's simple and intuitive enough that people of all ages and disparate digital skills can use it seamlessly.
