ZkSNARKs and Ticket-Based E-Voting: A Blockchain System Proof of Concept

Most existing electronic voting systems and the traditional centralized ballot management do not meet the requirements for e-voting trustworthiness today since the rate of development in science and technology is ever-increasing. Despite the blockchain-based providers designing systems that guarantee the transparency of the election, the new systems are not exempted from threats that hackers can leverage to influence the votes. This further supports the evidence presented that Blockchain based systems have progressed but there is always more that can be done especially in terms of further strengthening the transparency, security and authentications to minimize the existing risks. In order to support these vulnerabilities, we are proposing in this paper using zK-SNARK a scheme that meets the basic requirements of electronic voting and ensures the reliability and security of voting. In this scheme, a Merkle tree is used to store each voter’s ticket where the ticket hash is created and registered into the tree’s leaf. The voter then proves that they possess a valid ticket and are eligible to vote through zk-SNARK proof, which is very secure and efficient in verifying the voter’s authenticity. This approach keeps the voting process anonymous yet allows for a fast and secure method of authenticating the voters.