Development of a Secure Framework for Electronic Voting in Nigeria using Paillier Cryptosystem

Abstract

The proliferation of technological adoption, particularly in the area of cloud-based online storage systems, has elevated the significance of data security as a paramount necessity for users. The preservation of data privacy and availability during the data calculation process is a significant challenge. The evolving storage paradigm has generated a growing demand for dataset privacy and an encryption strategy that enables computation on encrypted data. The electoral process holds significant importance within a democratic society. The conventional voting method poses challenges for individuals who are unable to physically attend polling stations to cast their votes. Those who engage in manipulation and use various strategies to take advantage of the system for their own benefit have plagued the Nigerian electoral process. This study presents a potential framework for secure Internet voting using the Paillier homomorphic cryptosystem. The suggested system guarantees the fulfilment of security requirements, including authentication, accuracy, anonymity, receipt-freeness, reliability, verifiability, and fairness within the context of an election. The suggested scheme ensures compliance with the fundamental needs of a general voting system, including eligibility, correctness, simplicity, privacy, resilience, and verifiability. Moreover, it aligns with the provisions outlined in the Nigerian electoral act and constitution. The implementation uses the central processing unit (CPU) to perform the requisite computations involved in encryption, decryption, validation of votes, and tallying, while the architectural design and flowchart of the proposed system are well spelled out for better understanding of the system. The results show that the Paillier cryptosystem has strong encryption methods and homomorphic properties, which lets e-voting stay private and can be checked.