STAR-Vote: A Secure, Transparent, Auditable, and Reliable Voting System

TL;DR

STAR-Vote is a new voting system combining a familiar interface with cryptographic security and verifiability features, aiming to improve election transparency, reliability, and auditability.

Contribution

The paper introduces the design and architecture of STAR-Vote, integrating end-to-end cryptography with a user-friendly interface for secure, transparent elections.

Findings

Provides a paper trail and cryptographic end-to-end security.

Supports ballot-level risk-limiting audits.

Enables voter and observer audits.

Abstract

In her 2011 EVT/WOTE keynote, Travis County, Texas County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir described the qualities she wanted in her ideal election system to replace their existing DREs. In response, in April of 2012, the authors, working with DeBeauvoir and her staff, jointly architected STAR-Vote, a voting system with a DRE-style human interface and a "belt and suspenders" approach to verifiability. It provides both a paper trail and end-to-end cryptography using COTS hardware. It is designed to support both ballot-level risk-limiting audits, and auditing by individual voters and observers. The human interface and process flow is based on modern usability research. This paper describes the STAR-Vote architecture, which could well be the next-generation voting system for Travis County and perhaps elsewhere.