ElectionGuard is an open-source software tool that lets voters confirm that their ballot was counted and provides independent verification that the election results are correct, without revealing how anyone voted. It was developed by Microsoft’s Democracy Forward Initiative on the cryptographic foundations of Dr. Josh Benaloh’s PhD thesis – Verifiable Secret-Ballot Elections.
ElectionGuard runs alongside the existing voting system and uses advanced cryptography to produce an encrypted copy of the election results. ElectionGuard makes minimal changes to the voting experience but adds confidence to the results of the election.
In an ElectionGuard supported election, voters mark their ballots as they always have, hand-marking a paper ballot or using an accessible ballot marking device. Then, as they cast their vote, ElectionGuard encrypts their ballots and gives the voter a confirmation code that they can use to see for themselves that their ballot is included in the final count.
As voting is underway, the encrypted ballots are used to create a separate tally of votes. Election administrators can use this tally to check the results of the election without revealing how anyone voted. Any interested organization can use the ElectionGuard snapshot to perform and publish post-election audits.
To date, ElectionGuard has been used in three real-world elections – Fulton, Wisconsin (2020); Franklin County, Idaho (2022); and College Park, Maryland (2023). More information about these elections can be accessed below.
ElectionGuard is an open-source election software tool that improves confidence and participation in elections. It is designed for election system vendors to incorporate end-to-end verifiability into their systems and any interested organization to perform and publish post-election audits. ElectionGuard is a way of checking that election results are accurate, and that votes have not been altered, suppressed, or tampered with in any way.
ElectionGuard is an open-source election software tool that improves confidence and participation in elections. It is designed for election system vendors to incorporate end-to-end verifiability into their systems and any interested organization to perform and publish post-election audits. ElectionGuard is a way of checking that election results are accurate, and that votes have not been altered, suppressed, or tampered with in any way.
Election officials, policymakers, developers and voters all play a unique role in ElectionGuard’s success. To learn more about ElectionGuard, how it is used in an election and how you can get involved, please visit the page that best aligns with your role.
The ElectionGuard roadmap outlines the evolution of its open-source software development kit (SDK) between 2019 and 2023. The roadmap highlights significant software updates such as transitioning to a C++ core for improved encryption performance, support for various programming languages, and enhanced user experiences for key ceremonies and tally processes. The full roadmap is available for download below.
Led by state officials, the Election Technology Initiative is facilitated by The Turnout and The Council of State Governments.
CONTACT
Jared Marcotte
President, The Turnout
jared@turnout.rocks
Casandra Hockenberry
Project Manager, The Council of State Governments
chockenberry@csg.org
