Academic Research
In addition to the ongoing development and improvement of existing products, Assembly Voting is actively engaged in a range of different R&D projects. We have cooperated closely with the DemTech research program at the IT University of Copenhagen as well as other academic communities engaged in digital democratic infrastructure research.
Research paper
"SoK: Mechanisms Used in Practice for Verifiable Internet Voting"
A research paper examining how different online voting systems claiming to be "verifiable" stack up against one another took a look at Electa - with superb results
In 2024, academics from the Karlsrühe Institute of Technology conducted a thorough review of online voting systems, comparing them across a variety of metrics related to end-to-end verifiability.
Out of 82 systems initially identified, Electa was one of only 8 systems which were both “well-documented” and whose developers openly provided details about how the system works. On top of that, Electa bested several of its competitors in a variety of mechanisms, including authenticating users, recording votes, and more!
In 2024, academics from the Karlsrühe Institute of Technology conducted a thorough review of online voting systems, comparing them across a variety of metrics related to end-to-end verifiability.
Out of 82 systems initially identified, Electa was one of only 8 systems which were both “well-documented” and whose developers openly provided details about how the system works. On top of that, Electa bested several of its competitors in a variety of mechanisms, including authenticating users, recording votes, and more!
Modernizing the electoral process
We are always open to new ideas, research and partnership opportunities that investigate or use technological solutions to promote fundamental democratic principles.
Scientific research is moving fast in this field with continuous examination of issues that challenge existing voting systems and current methods of organising ballots. To stay on top of our field, we have a proactive research strategy in place that is based on our active participation in important International research environments concerning e-voting around the world.
We have assisted with DemTech, a research project based at the IT University of Copenhagen. DemTech’s work is aimed at developing electronic election technology based on the ‘trust by design’ principle in collaboration with the municipalities of Frederiksberg, Aarhus, and Copenhagen, and The Danish Council for Strategic Research.
General trust in elections is a fundamental premise for maintaining our democratic social system. Whether in the form of a parliamentary election or the appointment of representatives to a local school board, an election must live up to the basic principles of a legitimate democratic process.
The gaining and strengthening of voters’ trust is a matter of creating maximum transparency with respect to the design of the system as well as accountability in terms of observer access during voting. It is also important to resolve the challenges that new technologies and behaviour patterns constantly pose for digital voting systems and procedures.
Research issues
- Authentication of the software used
- System security with respect to internal manipulation
- System security with respect to external manipulation
- Documentation of technical execution that can be monitored by external auditors
- Development of user interfaces for voting