Secret suffrage

Secret suffrage, or voter anonymity, is not always implemented the same way. In the Republic of Ireland, for instance, voter anonymity is absolute. Any marks on the ballot paper which identify the voter invalidates the vote. In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, voter anonymity is conditional. The identity of voters can be discovered using the unique codes on ballot papers; this information is considered a state secret. The decision between absolute and conditional anonymity was not made explicit in the original CoE document, and this led to inconsistency between requirements [14].

13) The e-voting system shall, to the extent allowed by law, protect the secrecy of the vote. Note that this may be endangered by processing votes in small groups.(18, 54)

1. Where the law requires absolute anonymity, it shall be impossible to reproduce the link between voter and vote. Where the law requires conditional anonymity, it shall be impossible to reproduce such a link without the permission of the relevant authority. (contrast with 17)

2. At no stage shall the voter's identity and vote be available together in unencrypted form to any person (other than the voter) or system (16, 19, 34b, 35, 93a, 106), except where required by law and sanctioned by the relevant authority.

3. The voter shall not be allowed to retain possession of anything which could be used as proof to another person of the vote cast. (51, 52)
4. Voters shall be able to alter their choice at any point in the e-voting process before casting their vote, or to break off the procedure, without their previous choices being recorded or made available to any other person. (11)
5. The e-voting system shall maintain the privacy of individuals. Confidentiality of voters' registers stored in or communicated by the e-voting system shall be maintained. (78)
6. The audit system shall not endanger the secrecy of the vote (contrast with 103a)