High Integrity Matters

Providing a fair, publicly observable voting system is one of the many differentiated advantages of Everyone Counts. Ultimately, voting systems must be able to demonstrate to the voters that counting and recording of votes is accurate and unchanged. Trust is proven through transparency of the systems, which are open to anyone, at any time.

The software, management and administration systems that drive Everyone Counts are open-source based tools. Unlike any other voting system, the voters themselves are easily able to determine if the integrity of the election has been breached in any way.

Additionally, Everyone Counts supports the Independent Testing Authority, inspecting and digitally signing off every election. However we go further than this by actually publishing our software so that others can see how it employs this cryptography and how the votes are handled. This is important because while we may use the best methods possible it is important to show the voters, clients and auditors that we implement these techniques properly.

Internet voting is the most promising solution to the problems of remote voting: it provides a stronger, faster channel for vote transport and also brings many other advantages such as on-line help for voters, validity checks and simplified interfaces for the disabled. Internet voting provides the best intersection of technology, accessibility, cost and versatility. In addition, its potential as the basis for completely new forms of democracy is being realised along with its potential for on-line campaigning, community building and communication with candidates.

E1C's Virtual Private Network White Paper
A description of Everyone Counts contributions to the field of Internet voting since 1997 

UK Stratford-on-Avon pilot
An evaluation of the role Everyone Counts played  in the 2003 Stratford-On-Avon public vote in the UK.  

Emitted Code
An emitted-code model of configuration control and practical audit of e-voting software

Shared Trust Elections: The Highest Integrity Online Elections Solution

The real advantage of the Everyone Counts’ system is its high-security configuration: the "Shared Trust Election" (STE). The STE protects the voter’s vote from observation and modification all the way from within the voter’s browser to the Electoral Administrator’s computer. This covers the voting process on the voter’s computer, the vote’s passage across the Internet, its storage and backup in our databases and its transport from Everyone Counts’ system to the Election Administrator’s release of results.

The system remains observable for scrutiny in the following ways: the software that runs the ballot can be exported, audited, published and digitally signed by one or many third-party observers before the election runs. No other part of our system has the ability to create or modify votes. Secondly, a number people can be designated to be present for decryption of the collected votes. In this way, the administrators, political party leaders, public observers and any number of others can be required to present passwords to allow the count of the election. If any abstain, the system can be set to allow a quorum of people. This enforces that no single person should have unknown access to votes.

The most important thing about the Everyone Counts vision for security is that it excludes Everyone Counts staff. Seeking to influence the election is not possible via Everyone Counts staff, contractors, nor via staff at data centers used by Everyone Counts or even PC technicians servicing voters’ PCs. This is the model for the future: the person running the vote controls the election execution and does so without technical "gurus" or “black boxes” of technology that cannot be examined.

Watch "Dog City Dawn " An animation about Shared Trust Elections!


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