Blockchain Based E- Voting System

A project report
submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Technology
in
Computer Science & Engineering

By
HARSHIT KUMAR
B Tech VII Semester
Exam Roll No.:25780542
Enrolment No.:U2151052

Under the Supervisions of

DR. SUDHAKAR SINGH

Department of Electronics and Communication

J K Institute of Applied Physics & Technology
UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD
Prayagraj – 211002, India

December, 2024
 ABSTRACT

Elections are fundamental to democratic governance, yet traditional voting systems often face
challenges such as voter fraud, lack of transparency, and limited accessibility. Blockchain
technology offers an innovative solution to address these issues by providing a secure,
transparent, and decentralized framework for e-voting. This project explores the design and
implementation of a Blockchain-Based E-Voting System aimed at enhancing electoral
integrity, fostering trust, and improving accessibility. By leveraging the immutability and
distributed nature of blockchain, the system ensures that votes are tamper-proof and
verifiable. Cryptographic techniques, such as zero-knowledge proofs, protect voter
anonymity while allowing voters to confirm their votes were correctly recorded.

The proposed system consists of several key components, including a voter authentication
mechanism, a user-friendly voting interface, a blockchain network for recording votes, and
smart contracts to automate vote tallying and ensure integrity. Voter authentication employs
biometric verification and two-factor authentication to ensure only eligible voters participate.
The blockchain network employs a consensus mechanism, such as Proof of Stake, to validate
transactions and maintain trust among decentralized nodes. Additionally, smart contracts
streamline the electoral process, from vote recording to real-time result computation, while
ensuring accuracy and transparency.

The system’s design prioritizes decentralization, security, transparency, and accessibility. By

enabling remote voting, it accommodates geographically dispersed and differently-abled
voters, making elections more inclusive. The blockchain’s auditability ensures that all
stakeholders can independently verify the process, thus enhancing trust in electoral outcomes.
Scalability and cost-effectiveness are integral to the system, making it suitable for large-scale
national elections.

This project highlights the transformative potential of blockchain in revolutionizing elections,

offering solutions to existing challenges while paving the way for future innovations. By
integrating advancements such as artificial intelligence and hybrid blockchain models, the
system can evolve further, ensuring secure and transparent elections worldwide. The success
of blockchain-based e-voting systems depends on addressing technical and legal challenges
while fostering trust among voters and stakeholders. This initiative represents a significant

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION

Elections play a vital role in shaping democratic governance by enabling citizens to exercise
their right to vote. However, traditional voting systems, whether paper-based or electronic,
often face significant challenges, including voter fraud, lack of transparency, logistical
inefficiencies, and limited accessibility for remote or differently-abled individuals. These
issues undermine public trust in the electoral process, highlighting the urgent need for
innovative solutions. Blockchain technology, originally developed to support cryptocurrency
transactions, has emerged as a transformative tool for various applications, including e-
voting. Its decentralized, immutable, and transparent nature addresses many of the
shortcomings of traditional voting systems. By leveraging blockchain, this project seeks to
develop a secure and trustworthy e-voting platform that enhances accessibility and fosters
confidence in electoral outcomes. The motivation for this project lies in the potential to
revolutionize the voting process, making it more secure, efficient, and inclusive.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVES

Traditional voting systems are prone to vulnerabilities such as fraud, tampering, and lack of
transparency, which can lead to disputed results and diminished public trust. Moreover,
existing systems often fail to accommodate voters who are geographically dispersed or
physically unable to visit polling stations. This project aims to address these issues by
developing a blockchain-based e-voting system that ensures security, transparency, and
accessibility. It seeks to provide a verifiable and auditable platform where voters can confirm
the integrity of their votes. By implementing cryptographic techniques, the system will
protect voter anonymity while maintaining vote integrity. Furthermore, the design will
prioritize scalability, making it suitable for large-scale elections, and inclusivity by enabling
remote voting through internet-enabled devices.

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1.3 PROJECT CATEGORY

This project falls under the category of Networking and Cryptography, with a focus on
blockchain technology. It also integrates elements of Artificial Intelligence to enhance
security and efficiency.

1.4 PLATFORM REQUIREMENTS

To implement this system, several technologies and platforms will be utilized. The
blockchain framework, such as Ethereum or Hyperledger, will be employed for decentralized
vote recording and management. Smart contracts will automate the voting process and ensure
result integrity. Cryptographic tools, such as zero-knowledge proofs and advanced encryption
algorithms, will be used to ensure security and anonymity. For frontend development,
frameworks like React.js or Angular will provide a user-friendly voting interface, while
backend development will rely on Node.js or Python to manage server-side logic. High-
performance servers will host blockchain nodes, and secure, internet-enabled devices will
facilitate voter access. Software requirements include Linux or Windows operating systems,
development tools like Visual Studio Code and Docker for containerization, and Git for
version control. NoSQL databases like MongoDB will manage ancillary data.

By addressing the challenges of traditional voting systems through blockchain technology,

this project aims to deliver a robust and reliable e-voting platform that meets the evolving
needs of modern democracies.

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 CHAPTER 5

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5.1 INTRODUCTION

In this section, we present the outcomes of the testing and simulation of the blockchain-based
e-voting system. This includes testing its various components, such as the voting mechanism,
transaction validation, smart contract execution, and user interactions. The goal is to
demonstrate how well the system performs in a real-world election scenario, ensuring that it
meets the objectives defined earlier in the report, such as security, transparency, scalability,
and usability.

5.2 TESTING, VERIFICATION, AND VALIDATION

Testing the blockchain-based e-voting system is crucial to ensure that it works as expected
under various conditions. This section outlines the different types of testing performed and
the results achieved. We break down the testing into functional testing, security testing, and
performance testing.

5.2.1 FUNCTIONAL TESTING

Functional testing ensures that the blockchain-based e-voting system correctly implements all
the required functionalities as described in the design. The following tests were carried out:

1. Voter Registration:
o The system successfully registered voters using Ethereum accounts. Each
voter’s address was stored in the smart contract, and the system validated
eligibility before allowing them to vote.
o Test Outcome: All eligible voters were successfully registered and could cast
their votes.
2. Vote Casting:
o Voters were able to cast their votes securely through the web interface, which
interacted with the smart contract deployed on the Ethereum blockchain. The
system ensured that each voter could vote only once.
o Test Outcome: Vote casting functionality worked smoothly without errors.
3. Vote Counting:
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 o After votes were cast, the smart contract automatically tallied the votes in real-
time, ensuring the results were accurate and tamper-proof.
o Test Outcome: The smart contract accurately counted the votes, and the results
were consistent with the number of votes cast.
4. Vote Verification:
o Voters were able to verify their vote without revealing their identity. This was
achieved by storing the transaction hash of each vote, allowing voters to check
that their vote was recorded on the blockchain.
o Test Outcome: Vote verification was successful, and voters could confirm
their participation.
5. Vote Security:
o The system implemented cryptographic techniques to ensure that votes were
encrypted and could not be tampered with. The use of private-public key pairs
ensured that only the voter could cast their vote, and the vote could not be
altered by anyone else.
o Test Outcome: The vote security mechanism performed as expected, and no
tampering or unauthorized vote casting was detected.

5.2.2 SECURITY TESTING

Security is paramount in any voting system, especially in a blockchain-based e-voting

system. The following tests were conducted to ensure the system's security:

1. Smart Contract Security:

o The smart contract was audited for vulnerabilities using automated tools such
as MythX and Oyente. These tools helped identify potential security risks in
the contract code, such as reentrancy attacks, overflow issues, and improper
access control.
o Test Outcome: The contract passed the security audit without any major
vulnerabilities. However, minor improvements were made to increase gas
efficiency.

2. Vote Integrity:

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 o Various attack scenarios were simulated to test the integrity of the votes. For
example, an attacker attempting to alter a vote after it was recorded on the
blockchain was simulated.
o Test Outcome: Blockchain’s immutability ensured that once a vote was cast, it
could not be changed or deleted, ensuring vote integrity.
3. Double Voting Prevention:
o The system was tested for double voting prevention by simulating multiple
attempts to vote from the same address.
o Test Outcome: The system successfully detected double voting and rejected
subsequent voting attempts from the same address.

5.2.3 PERFORMANCE TESTING

Performance testing is essential to evaluate how well the blockchain-based e-voting system
handles a large number of transactions and voters. The following performance tests were
conducted:

1. Throughput and Latency:

o The system was tested for throughput and latency by simulating a large
number of votes being cast in a short period. This test aimed to evaluate how
the system would perform under high-load conditions.
o Test Outcome: The system handled up to 500 votes per second on a local
Ethereum test network (Ganache) without any significant performance
degradation. However, latency was slightly higher when the number of
transactions exceeded 1,000 votes per second.
2. Scalability:
o The scalability of the system was tested by simulating an election with tens of
thousands of voters. The blockchain network’s ability to handle a high volume
of votes without failure was evaluated.
o Test Outcome: While the system could handle a large number of voters,
Ethereum’s public blockchain showed signs of congestion as the transaction
volume increased, causing delays in vote processing. This suggests that private
blockchains or layer 2 solutions might be necessary for larger-scale elections

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5.3 COMPARISON OF RESULTS

we compare the performance and functionality of the blockchain-based e-voting system with
traditional e-voting systems and other blockchain-based voting solutions.

5.3.1 BLOCKCHAIN-BASED VS. TRADITIONAL E-VOTING SYSTEMS

 Security: Blockchain-based e-voting systems provide a higher level of security

compared to traditional systems due to the immutable nature of blockchain.
Traditional systems are often vulnerable to hacking, data breaches, and tampering. In
contrast, blockchain ensures that vote data cannot be altered once it is recorded.
 Transparency: Blockchain provides full transparency, allowing all participants to
verify the vote count and the integrity of the voting process in real time. Traditional
systems often lack transparency, and the counting process is usually not auditable by
external parties.
 Cost and Accessibility: Traditional e-voting systems often require expensive
infrastructure, including voting machines and polling stations, which can make them
costly and less accessible. Blockchain-based systems eliminate this need, making the
voting process cheaper and more accessible, especially for remote voters.

5.3.2 BLOCKCHAIN-BASED VS OTHER VOTING SYSTEM

Several other blockchain-based voting solutions have been developed or proposed in recent
years. When compared with these systems, our solution stands out in terms of:

 Security Features: While many blockchain-based voting systems use blockchain for
vote recording, our system goes a step further by integrating cryptographic
mechanisms like private-public key pairs to ensure voter anonymity and prevent
tampering.
 Decentralization: Unlike some blockchain voting systems that rely on centralized
validators, our solution utilizes the full decentralization of Ethereum, ensuring that no
single entity can manipulate or control the election process.

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