Vote counting as mathematical proof

Dirk Pattinson, Carsten Schürmann*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    12 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Trust in the correctness of an election outcome requires proof of the correctness of vote counting. By formalising particular voting protocols as rules, correctness of vote counting amounts to verifying that all rules have been applied correctly. A proof of the outcome of any particular election then consists of a sequence (or tree) of rule applications and provides an independently checkable certificate of the validity of the result. This reduces the need to trust, or otherwise verify, the correctness of the vote counting software once the certificate has been validated. Using a rule-based formalisation of voting protocols inside a theorem prover, we synthesise vote counting programs that are not only provably correct, but also produce independently verifiable certificates. These programs are generated from a (formal) proof that every initial set of ballots allows to decide the election winner according to a set of given rules.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationAI 2015
    Subtitle of host publicationAdvances in Artificial Intelligence - 28th Australasian Joint Conference, Proceedings
    EditorsJochen Renz, Bernhard Pfahringer
    PublisherSpringer Verlag
    Pages464-475
    Number of pages12
    ISBN (Print)9783319263496
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015
    Event28th Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AI 2015 - Canberra, Australia
    Duration: 30 Nov 20154 Dec 2015

    Publication series

    NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
    Volume9457
    ISSN (Print)0302-9743
    ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

    Conference

    Conference28th Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AI 2015
    Country/TerritoryAustralia
    CityCanberra
    Period30/11/154/12/15

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Vote counting as mathematical proof'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this