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Can the idea of partially closed voting be effectively implemented?
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Description

There was a discussion in Russian due to "datapult" voting manipulation. This attempt of manipulation was revealed due to the openness of data on who voted how. A completely closed vote system (like SecurePoll) was deemed to only increase the risks of such manipulation.

What we need is a partially closed voting system, in which it is possible to decipher and make all votes completely open after the end of the voting. One proposal for implementing such a system involves the use of asymmetric encryption keys by bureaucrats.

It is desirable that during the voting process bureaucrats would have access to voting information (could decipher it). Then the disclosure of information on voting, if there is a similar decryption mechanism by key, will simply be the publication of the key by bureaucrats. We usually vote for two weeks, so the key may not be super-resistant, just so that it is not picked up during this time.

Are there any possibilities to implement this without noticeable pain?

Event Timeline

I think about a simple mechanism without any encryption and keys: create a tool on Toolforge, authorise users with OAuth, write votes into plaintext file and set permissions of this file to rw-------. Tool owner (it can be crat or CU) can see this file and publish results after voting end.

jrbs renamed this task from Сan the idea of partially closed voting be effectively implemented? to Can the idea of partially closed voting be effectively implemented?.May 26 2022, 10:03 PM