Target audiences of SDK, and verification tool for voters about electionguard HOT 5 CLOSED

@joaquinperaza yes, I have read that article, and my OP contains a link to it. Nevertheless, my point still stands.

Even with an open specification available you still need reference implementations. To illustrate, the W3C, whose job has been producing open specifications for decades, has a process that a proposed standard can't reach recommendation status (the final one) unless there is evidence of existing implementations.

from electionguard.

Hello there and sorry to join this thread so late. We are now live and, as you suggest, working on reference implementations across a variety of use cases.

from electionguard.

In many articles they mention that could be implemented for voting systems, but also for third party verification systems.

from electionguard.

In many articles they mention that could be implemented for voting systems, but also for third party verification systems.

Sure, there could be third party verification systems. But shouldn't there be a reference implementation from Microsoft? Especially considering that the systems' homomorphic encryption is probably not trivial to implement, and also the maxim from the cryptography space that "you shouldn't roll your own crypto".

from electionguard.

"Second, ElectionGuard also includes an open specification – or a road map – which allows anyone to write an election verifier. Voters, candidates, news media and any observers can run verifiers of their own or downloaded from sources of their choosing to confirm tabulations are as reported. The combination of the tracker – which allows individual voters to verify that their votes have been accurately recorded – and the verifier – which allows anyone to verify that the recorded votes have been accurately counted – enables full “end-to-end verification” of the correctness of election results. It will not be possible to “hack” the vote without detection."

https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2019/05/06/protecting-democratic-elections-through-secure-verifiable-voting/

from electionguard.