A Framework for Secure CyberSavvy Internet Vote Casting System: Rebuilding Trust in Digital Electoral

Elections serve as a fundamental contributor to sound democratic governance, and voting allows for electing from amongst listed contestants a particular one. It is an anonymized expression of preference through the ballot. A contestant having desired threshold or above vote casting is declared to have won the election. Internet(i)-voting has gained significant importance in recent times because of the transparency requirement in the vote casting system besides allied advantages such as voter convenience and ease of access through the internet constrained only by the time bounds from a particular electoral. In 2005, Estonia successfully introduced the i-voting system, which requires an e-ID card or ID Mobile for vote casting, for its eligible voters to cast votes in the local, legislative, and European Parliamentary elections. Recent studies reveal that the issue of resentment for i-voting is not in accepting transformation or its espousal but the vulnerabilities linked with the technology (uncontrolled environment of the internet). That is, technological naiveness and lack of trust of the people in cyberspace are significant impediments to adopting the i-voting system, especially in the recent growth of hacking incidents and infiltration of the dark web. There are also concerns over forged vote casting on behalf of intimate members and sold-out votes. One of the accusations exerted by the foes is the adversative effect of the digital divide on elections. Procedural, political, and resource scarceness further accentuate the nonacceptance by the masses. Hence, this situation necessitates the need to propose and evolve, on top of existing technologies, cost-effective secure i-voting solutions that help gain voters’ trust, which is the prima facie of this research exertion.