Voting from your sofa is secure enough – but will Norway allow it?

Norway's national elections are approaching in September, and most Norwegians will probably have to visit the polling stations again this year in order to cast their votes. The reason is that despite Norway wanting to become the most digital country in the world, it is still far from conducting fully digital elections.

However, new cryptographic techniques will provide enough security to enable electronic elections to be held in the future. If politicians support online electronic voting, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) will be able to provide help.

“We have developed a quantum-resistant electronic voting system,” said Tjerand Silde, an associate professor at NTNU's Department of Information Security and Communication Technology.

The new system ensures that voting with a keystroke remains just as secret, reliable and secure as pen and paper.

Secure, efficient, electronic

He and his colleagues have designed a system that can replace the current technology used to keep voting information secret.

The researchers have proven that the system is secure even against the super-fast quantum computers that are likely just around the corner. In theory, these computers will be able to crack current cryptography, allowing information about who voted for what to be misused in the future.

Replacing the current systems is a big job.

“But now that process can actually begin, based on our contributions. It is possible to build a new system that ensures we can also vote electronically in a secure way in the future,” Silde said.

The article ‘More Efficient Lattice-Based Electronic Voting from NTRU’ was published in IACR Communications in Cryptology this winter.

Threats from quantum computers

Switzerland, Estonia, France and Australia have already introduced digital elections.  Silde says these countries have robust systems that ensure votes cannot be traced back to individual voters. These countries are taking concrete steps to preserve trust, with systems in motion to ensure that everything works as it should and to guarantee that the results are accurate.

The big challenge, however, is quantum computers, which pose a serious threat to digital elections.

“In a few years, everyone will have to switch to quantum-resistant cryptography. Our research lays the foundation for enabling e-voting in the future. Our system is secure, although it is less efficient than the current systems. But the conventional systems will be insecure in the future anyway,” said Silde.

Huge advantages – and disadvantages

Companies like IBM, Google and Microsoft are developing quantum computers, and OsloMet already has two of them (in Norwegian). These types of computers can solve specific mathematical problems in a very short time. This new technology has the potential to change the world, but it comes with security challenges, and many people are working hard to solve them.

The Norwegian National Security Authority believes there is more than a 50 per cent chance that computers capable of cracking current encryption systems will be available in just 10–15 years.

Governments and criminals are preparing

“This means we need to replace today’s systems with new cryptography. It must have the same properties, but also protect against new attacks. The danger is that if the encrypted votes are stored today, it may be possible to decrypt them in the future. Both cybercriminals and state actors are already preparing for this development by storing encrypted data traffic that they expect to be able to decrypt in the future,” Silde said.

In addition, if a large quantum computer is available when an election takes place, an attacker could tamper with the results to influence the outcome.

Solving major challenges

The researchers at NTNU’s Department of Information Security and Communication Technology believe their system resolves some major challenges:

• It can confirm that only people with the right to vote cast their vote
• It ensures that cast votes cannot be linked to the voters’ identities
• It ensures that the votes can be counted and checked and that the result is correct

Electronically mixed votes

All of this is done using an electronic mixer.

“It mixes the votes so they can’t be traced back to the person who cast them. At the same time, we make sure that the mixer does not replace the votes with other information. We have designed a system that makes it possible to verify and prove that everything was done properly,” Silde said.

The result is that electronic elections can be conducted in the same way as today, and without anyone with a quantum computer being able to crack the encryption and learn anything about the votes beyond the actual election result.

“The system can still be improved, but we are the first to show that this is possible and that it is effective enough to be implemented,” Silde said.

It is natural that Norway, as one of the world’s most digital societies, consider whether this will be beneficial for us in the future.

Is paper still safest?

E-elections have already been carried out in Norway, both in church elections and in referendums where residents advised politicians on the merging of counties and municipalities, for example. In 2011 and 2013, pilot projects were conducted in some municipalities and counties where electronic voting was included in the official election.

However, the politicians decided not to continue investing in this form of voting. In 2024, a group of experts was asked to assess the impact of AI on ensuring trust in continued democratic elections in Norway. One recommendation among many was to keep paper ballots  (in Norwegian) to ensure they can be verified.

Increased participation and cost savings

Both Switzerland and Estonia have reported increased voter turnout and cost savings by conducting purely electronic elections.

But Silde says there's more to be done before electronic voting comes to Norway.

“This depends on whether the system can be trusted or not. There tends to be a focus on the disadvantages when choosing not to use electronic voting systems. It is natural that we, as one of the world’s most digital societies, consider whether this will be beneficial for us in the future,” said Silde.

Fully digital elections in Norway are unlikely

Once the system is up and running, conducting an e-election is both cheaper and less challenging. And when it becomes easier to vote, it becomes easier to participate in democratic processes. In addition, votes can be counted faster and more easily than today.

However, the computer expert does not envision Norway switching to fully digital elections.

“Digital voting will be an addition to paper-based voting that can make it cheaper and easier to engage various groups in society,” he said.

References:
Patrick Hough, Caroline Sandsbråten, Tjerand Silde: ‘More Efficient Lattice-Based Electronic Voting from NTRU’ IACR Communications in Cryptology.

Diego F. Aranha, Carsten Baum, Kristian Gjøsteen, Tjerand Silde: ‘Verifiable Mix-Nets and Distributed Decryption for Voting from Lattice-Based Assumptions’ ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security.

Diego F. Aranha, Carsten Baum, Kristian Gjøsteen, Tjerand Silde, Thor Tunge: ‘Lattice-Based Proof of Shuffle and Applications to Electronic Voting’ Cryptographers’ Track at the RSA Conference.