Anonymity in Voting Revisited

Abstract

Abstract. According to international law, anonymity of the voter is a fundamental precondition for democratic elections. In electronic voting, several aspects of voter anonymity have been identified. In this paper, we re-examine anonymity with respect to voting, and generalise existing notions of anonymity in e-voting. First, we identify and categorise the types of attack that can be a threat to anonymity of the voter, including different types of vote buying and coercion. This analysis leads to a categorisation of anonymity in voting in terms of a) the strength of the anonymity achieved and b) the extent of interaction between voter and attacker. Some of the combinations, including weak and strong receiptfreeness, are formalised in epistemic logic.

Anonymity and Democracy: Absence as Presence in the Public Sphere

“…Many scholars treat anonymity as a simple and self-explanatory concept. For example, Jonker and Pieters (2010) state: “Intuitively, anonymity means that it is impossible to determine who sent which message to whom” (216). Secondly, and more importantly, anonymity is often equated with privacy.…”

Development of A Formal Security Model for Electronic Voting Systems

“…In Delaune, Kremer, and Ryan (2009), vote-privacy, receiptfreeness and coercion-resistance are formalized in the applied pi calculus by means of observational equivalence. In Jonker and Pieters (2006), a formal definition of receipt-freeness in epistemic logic by means of observational equivalence is given. Both approaches are process-oriented and thus, not suitable for a CC evaluation.…”