Principles and requirements for a secure e-voting system

Electronic voting (e-voting) is considered a means to further enhance and strengthen the democratic processes in modern information societies. E-voting should first comply with the existing legal and regulatory framework. Moreover, e-voting should be technically implemented in such a way that ensures adequate user requirements. As a result, the aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to identify the set of generic constitutional requirements, which should be met when designing an e-voting system for general elections. This set will lead to the specific (design) principles of a legally acceptable e-voting system. Second, to identify, using the Rational Unified Process, the requirements of an adequately secure e-voting system. These requirements stem from the design principles identified previously. The paper concludes that an e-voting capability should, for the time being, be considered only as a complementary means to the traditional election processes. This is mainly due to the digital divide, to the inherent distrust in the e-voting procedure, as well as to the inadequacy of the existing technological means to meet certain requirements.