Capstone: Ethereum‑Based Voting Platform for Campus Elections
Introduction
Despite the proven reliability of paper ballots, campus elections regularly struggle with lengthy manual recounts, audit gaps, and delayed results. Discrepancies in student‑government votes at several U.S. universities have taken days or even weeks to resolve, eroding trust and imposing high administrative costs.
Abstract
This capstone proposes a permissioned Ethereum blockchain voting system tailored to Earlham College campus elections. The design includes secure email‑based authentication, a commit–reveal smart‑contract workflow, a PoA network for fast finality, and a modular front‑end DApp. Evaluation spans three pilot trials, mixed‑method usability/trust surveys, performance benchmarks, and security audits. Deliverables include a React/DApp prototype, open datasets, and a submission to IEEE Blockchain.
Full Proposal (PDF)
📄 View or Download Proposal (PDF)Data Architecture
Voter registry is maintained off‑chain as a Merkle root, with inclusion proofs verified on‑chain.
Ballots use commit–reveal: commitHash = H(vote ∥ nonce) on the BallotContract,
then the reveal phase checks integrity. The TallyContract uses off‑chain Paillier encryption
and a 2‑of‑3 threshold decryption among validator nodes to derive the final tally without
exposing individual votes.
IRB Review & Compliance
- All survey responses and usage logs will be stored on encrypted campus servers and retained only for the three pilot trials plus a three‑month archival period, after which raw identifiers will be purged.
- Only aggregated, anonymized metrics will be published; no personally identifiable information (PII) will appear in any reports or datasets.
- Project qualifies for expedited/exempt IRB review at Earlham. I will submit the IRB application six weeks before Pilot 1 and complete required ethics‑training modules.
- Close coordination with Dr. Kyle Henning (IRB convener) to ensure timely approval and compliance with 45 CFR 46 and Earlham policies.