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Fair Voting

Our Multi-Party (MP) technology provides multi-level assurances for several properties that are essential for fair voting, including:

• voter privacy (voter unlinkability): the inability to link votes with voters
• vote secrecy: the inability to know individual votes
• election integrity: the inability of any number of parties to influence the outcome of an election except by properly voting

The Safevote technology is implemented in several components of the voting system, whether for online or offline use.

A major Safevote component is the DVC™ -- the Digital Voter Certificate. In simple terms, a DVC performs all the functions of a PIN and more, without the shortcomings of PINs (for example, without shared secrets).

Safevote assigns to each voter a DVC, which is both improbable to guess and unknown to the customer. According to the election product used, the DVC may or may not be visible to the voter. The DVC may also be mnemonic, making it easier for voters with products where voters must read and type their DVCs. The DVC is Safevote's ingenious technology for, without shared secrets, controlling all aspects of the election, including voter access, ballot style, ballot delivery, proof of receipt, tallying, auditing, and reporting.

Security of the DVC distribution to voters is important for the voter authentication process. DVC distribution is protected by Safevote and, according to customer need, may use different mechanisms, including:

ZMAIL Ballot: unique access codes (DVC™) are sent to each eligible voter on behalf of the customer by ZMAIL Ballot; voters who do not, or cannot, receive the Safevote ballot can vote securely with a provisional ballot.

Secure Login Ballot: unique access codes (DVC™) are assigned to each voter upon login at the customer site using the customer's pages and the customer's enterprise database; the voter goes on to vote using Safevote, while keeping all the privacy and security assurances, and audit, of the Safevote process.

Secure Postal Mail: unique access codes (DVC™) are assigned to each voter upon voter registration and, without being known to anyone else, are mechanically inserted and sealed for mailing in postal mail envelopes. A password that is already known by each voter is used to generate the DVCs. The passwords are not included in the envelope with the DVCs. Upon receiving the postal mail, the voter uses the DVC and password to login at a secure site. The voter goes on to vote, while keeping all the privacy and security assurances, and audit, of the Safevote process.

For Safevote elections, adequate security includes protection from hackers, and confidentiality includes protection from viewing by unauthorized users. Safevote uses a proven anti-phishing solution together with SSL strong encryption and user authentication without data stored anywhere (ZSENTRY™ technology). Safevote also satisfies the 2006 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued guidelines for two-factor authentication in Internet banking, the next standard for e-commerce. Additional components provide for redundancy, auditing, ballot design, ballot verification, voter list report, tallying, tally report, protection against internal and external attacks, and other functions.