POLYAS at INFORMATIK 2014

Moritz Strube, Technical Director of POLYAS, held a presentation on the history, present and future of the online voting system at INFORMATIK 2014.

POLYAS has been successfully implemented for elections in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Finland since 1996. To date approximately 2.2 million ballots have been cast with the online software. In recent years the system has been the subject of much scientific discussion and has already been subjected to numerous extensive tests.

Currently the certification of the core system of POLYAS is being revised as per the common criteria, as well as the incorporation of the electronic personal ID card for the identification and authentication of authorised voters. In addition interfaces for UniWahl4 are currently under development in order to simplify the execution of online elections in universities. In addition the TU Darmstadt has developed a tool to verify the correct count of electronic ballots.

The future of the system foresees the expansion of the existing POLYAS system with more voting protocols to fulfil additional election requirements. POLYAS shall meet these requirements more efficiently, more quickly and more securely, especially with regard to complex elections at home and abroad. The planned activities are characterised by transparency and cooperation in diverse systems to promote trust in internet elections.