E-voting system using cloud-based hybrid blockchain technology

With the invention of Internet-enabled devices, cloud and blockchain-based technologies, an online voting system can smoothly carry out election processes. During pandemic situations, citizens tend to develop panic about mass gatherings, which may influence the decrease in the number of votes. This urges a reliable, flexible, transparent, secure, and cost-effective voting system. The proposed online voting system using cloud-based hybrid blockchain technology eradicates the flaws that persist in the existing voting system, and it is carried out in three phases: the registration phase, vote casting phase and vote counting phase. A timestamp-based authentication protocol with digital signature validates voters and candidates during the registration and vote casting phases. Using smart contracts, third-party interventions are eliminated, and the transactions are secured in the blockchain network. Finally, to provide accurate voting results, the practical Byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) consensus mechanism is adopted to ensure that the vote has not been modified or corrupted. Hence, the overall performance of the proposed system is significantly better than that of the existing system. Further performance was analyzed based on authentication delay, vote alteration, response time, and latency.