encrypted sum of that value. In other words, by adding the encrypted ballots together and decrypting them all at once, the candidates for whom the votes were cast can be determined.

“I’m not actively pursuing [Scratch & Vote] for implementation, though I use it regularly to teach the concepts,” Adida said via email. “I think it might be a useful system for certain simple elections, but it might simply be more useful as a teaching tool. It’s helped a number of folks understand the power of open-audit voting, even if they quickly forget the details.”

Invented by Rivest, the ThreeBallot Voting System entails giving a voter three identical ballots. To vote for a candidate, a voter must select that candidate on two of the three ballots. To vote against a candidate, the voter must select that candidate on one ballot. At the polling station, the voter makes a copy of any one of the three ballots, which he or she retains, and the three original ballots are placed in the ballot box.

At the election’s conclusion, all of

 

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scratch & Vote
has helped people
“understand the power
of open-audit voting,
even if they quickly
forget the details,”
says Ben adida.

the ballots are published. As each ballot contains a unique seven-digit identifier, a voter can independently verify that his or her vote was counted by searching for the identifier among the published ballots.

ThreeBallot offers some of the advantages of a cryptographic voting system without actually using cryptography. MIT students have conducted a field test with ThreeBallot, however, and discovered problems in terms of usability, privacy, and security.

While many academic experts say that the science behind E2E auditable systems is promising, they also note the need for further research and usability studies.

“We are at the stage where we need to try many different techniques for open-audit voting, and we just don’t know what’s going to work better in a real-world setting,” Adida said via email. “Deciding on a single system now would be putting the cart before the horse.”

David Wagner, a professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley, suggests that a widespread, multiyear study could be the best way to advance E2E verifiable voting research. “The next step is that you need a system that is very concretely worked out,” Wagner says. “One of the things about cryptography is that the devil’s in the details. When you’re using this fancy mathematics, there’s all these details to get right and any one little slip-up can compromise the security of the whole system.”

 

Based in Oakland, CA, Cyrus Farivar freelances as a technology journalist and a radio reporter and producer.

Information Technology
Intel Cuts
Electric
Cords

Intel researchers have demonstrated a wireless electric power system that could enable notebook computers and other consumer devices to be powered without wall outlets and transformers.

In a recent demonstration at Intel’s annual Developer Forum in San Francisco, electricity was wirelessly sent a distance of several feet to a lamp on stage, illuminating its 60 watt bulb, which uses more electricity than the average laptop.

“Something like this technology could be embedded in tables and work surfaces,” Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner told the New York Times, “so as soon as you put down an appropriately equipped device it would immediately begin drawing power.”

Known as “wireless energy resonant link,” the Intel technology could also be embedded in computer components, such as monitors, enabling them to send power to nearby devices.

Bioengineering
Fits on a
Fingertip

California Institute of Technology researchers have developed a high-resolution, lens-less microscope that, due to its tiny size, can fit on a fingertip. Called an optofluidic microscope, the device combines traditional computer chip technology with microfluidics, the channeling of fluid flow at incredibly small scales, and uses sunlight for illumination.

Developed by a team of researchers led by Changhuei Yang, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering, the microscope has the magnifying power of a high-quality optical microscope and could be used in developing countries to analyze blood samples for malaria or to check water supplies for pathogens.