Vote Coin Protocol Proposes Paper Ballot Audits on Cardano

Michael Twigg present Vote Coin Protocol for the Cardano Forum on October 1, and e invite technical review for one proposed paper ballot voting system. The published design cover election procedures, privacy protections, and testing plans. E never get certification and e never deploy.

Paper Ballots and a Public Cardano Audit Trail

Vote Coin Protocol propose in-person voting with public audit trail for each ballot. Voter-verified paper ballots go still be the base to determine election results.

Voters go review their printed ballots before dem deposit am. Separate scanner go read the printed selections and compare am with the device digital record.

Each record go get SHA-256 fingerprint wey dem combine with secret random value, to make am hard to infer wetin dey inside the ballot from the fingerprint.

Fingerprints from multiple ballots go combine into Merkle tree. The root go summarize the batch and still allow check whether individual record dey inside. That root go anchor on Cardano, while voting choices, names, and personal information go remain off-chain.

Receipt go allow voters check whether their ballot fingerprint appear inside anchored batch. This one dey verify say the record enter; election totals go still come from the paper ballots.

Vote Coin Records the Use of a Voting Right

The initial model go issue one native Cardano token for each registered voting right. Tokens go remain locked for one Plutus validator address, and only authorized burns fit spend am.

After vote don record, dem go burn the token to create public evidence say the right don get used. Polling-place check-in go still prevent second ballot during the voting itself.

Voters no need crypto wallet and dem no go pay any transaction fees. The election budget go fund fees in ADA. ADA wey lock together with token go return to the election authority when dem burn am.

Individual token burns dey proposed for the first two pilot phases. From the third phase, spent credential tags go instead appear inside batch records wey dem anchor through their cryptographic roots. Voting go remain local, while blockchain publication go happen afterward, allow anchor to wait if network congestion dey.

Plutus Review and Testnet Measurements Requested

Twigg don ask Cardano developers to examine the burn-only validator, blockchain load estimates, and burn transaction size. For him forum post, e specifically request testnet measurements to assess the document assumptions.

The public repository include the white paper, worked examples, and Python verification scripts. Those scripts dey recompute ballot fingerprints, Merkle inclusion proofs, and estimated network load using illustrative ballots and stated Cardano parameters.

The published checks cover the document calculations. The requested network measurements concern actual transaction size and validator behavior.

If discrepancy show after filing, the design go require make dem correct the digital record to match the voter-reviewed paper ballot and make dem publicly log the difference.