Semi-quantum voting protocol with decentralization of vote verification and traceability

Abstract

Quantum voting protocol(QVP) allows the voters securely vote by checking the adversary’s eavesdropping on the quantum channels. However, most existing QVPs are based on complex quantum technologies and n-particle entangled states, which impose substantial requirements on quantum equipment. What is more, the larger the parameter n, the more difficult the preparation and preservation of the n-particle entangled states. Furthermore, in most of the protocols, there is an issue of excessive reliance on a single trusted center, who masters the power of both verifying the vote and tracing the voter’s identity, which renders them vulnerable to the security risks resulting from potential abuse of single center’s power. To address these challenges, a semi-quantum voting protocol(SQVP) with decentralization of vote verification and traceability is proposed. In our protocol, the center Trent and the scrutineer Bob are quantum party, while all the voters are classical partners. The center Trent can only get the information on the vote's content without knowing the voter's identity, while the scrutineer Bob can only trace the identity of the voter without knowing the content of the vote. Therefore, our protocol can prevent from the abuse of single center’s power. The protocol can effectively withstand various eavesdropping and forgery attacks. To our knowledge, our protocol is the first SQVP utilizing the Bell state. Compared to similar QVPs, our protocol is more practical while ensuring security.