New electronic voting platform preserves voter anonymity and electoral integrity

Posted on: 31 July 2025

Led by Professor Hitesh Tewari of the Research Ireland ADAPT Centre and the School of Computer Science and Statistics, and the recently launched Applied Cryptography Research Lab  at Trinity College Dublin, the platform uses advanced cryptographic techniques and blockchain technology to ensure that votes cannot be traced to individuals, while still allowing for public verification of results.  

Using a combination of Zero-Knowledge Proofs, a cryptographic protocol that proves eligibility without revealing identity, and the Zcash blockchain, zkBallot enables voters to cast a ballot that is both untraceable to them personally and verifiable by independent auditors.

In practice, the voting experience is like existing electronic voting systems. Voters receive a secure email link and cast their ballot through a web interface. However, instead of recording the vote directly, zkBallot simulates a blockchain transaction by transferring Zcash tokens from a voter’s shielded address to a candidate’s public address. This creates an auditable transaction without revealing who voted for whom.

Speaking about zkBallot, Professor Tewari said: “Unlike traditional eVoting systems, which often rely on opaque, centralised infrastructures, zkBallot uses open, decentralised cryptographic methods that make the entire vote-counting process independently verifiable.”

zkBallot is currently suitable for closed elections, such as those held by universities, boards, associations, or professional bodies, where the list of eligible voters is fixed and known in advance. It has yet to be deployed in a live setting, the platform is being positioned as a secure, transparent option for organisations seeking to improve trust and legitimacy in digital ballots. 

The development of zkBallot comes amid rising global interest in online voting, which is increasingly seen as a way of reducing administrative costs, boosting voter turnout, and enabling secure remote participation. However, these benefits come with new vulnerabilities. A single system flaw could undermine an entire election, raising serious concerns about security, transparency, and manipulation at scale. 

These concerns have prompted a growing body of research into the use of blockchain technology and cryptographic frameworks in voting systems. Blockchain offers a decentralised infrastructure with end-to-end verifiability, non-repudiation, and the ability to distribute trust across nodes rather than concentrating it in a single point of failure.

The research team is also exploring how the underlying cryptographic framework could be extended for wider-scale national voting, though such applications would require further technical development and alignment with electoral policy frameworks.

Ireland continues to use paper-based ballots for national and local elections, and previous government efforts to adopt electronic voting systems were abandoned in the early 2000s over concerns around security and public trust.

However, recent advancements in privacy-enhancing technologies, particularly in blockchain and decentralised verification, have reopened discussions globally around what trustworthy digital voting could look like.

For more information see the zkBallot website.

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