Last year, Microsoft unveiled ElectionGuard - a voting system aimed toward showcasing security and affordability for the voting process in elections. Since then, the tech giant has released the software on GitHub and even piloted it in an election in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Today, Microsoft has highlighted some of the unique ways in which ElectionGuard is being used in various projects.
For starters, VotingWorks - the firm which partnered with Microsoft in the aforementioned Wisconsin elections - recently incorporated ElectionGuard into Arlo, its open-source auditing software. Arlo was then used to conduct a risk-limiting audit in Inyo County, California to show a link between the election and the audit results, with voter privacy being maintained during the process through the software.
Moving on, ElectionGuard was successfully used to encrypt votes cast using a mobile app, developed by technology firm Markup, which facilitated remote voting for the leadership of the U.S. House Democratic Caucus. No personal devices were used during this voting process, and House-managed iPhones were utilized instead. Similarly, Canadian company Neuvote created a hybrid mobile voting system that enables voters to "cast and confirm a paper ballot from a smartphone or tablet while watching the process on their device". The electronic vote record which is cast is secured through ElectionGuard. On both these projects, Microsoft has been assisted by the U.S.-based firm InfernoRed.
In the future, Microsoft plans to share more on ElectionGuard"s use in ensuring voting confidence when it comes to traditional voting systems.