Some important properties of a safe and fair voting process are:
anonymous (no one can know how you voted)
secure (only eligible voters may vote)
reproducible (you can tally multiple times to get the same result)
open (anyone can oversee the process and final tallying)
transparent (normal voters understand the process)
The one system that secures this is: voter id verification, voting places with private booths, ballot, pen, and ballot boxes, followed by open tallying. A computer based system cannot obtain all properties, since many properties work in opposing directions (e.g. anonymous and open). Well, in theory, it is possible to devise a system with almost all these properties, but it will always fail on transparency.
It will be so complex, that only the developers and engineers understand it. Not even the election officials stand a chance of fully understanding the mathematics and encryption techniques involved. That is also why any system involving computers in the voting process will always be contested.
Some important properties of a safe and fair voting process are:
The one system that secures this is: voter id verification, voting places with private booths, ballot, pen, and ballot boxes, followed by open tallying. A computer based system cannot obtain all properties, since many properties work in opposing directions (e.g. anonymous and open). Well, in theory, it is possible to devise a system with almost all these properties, but it will always fail on transparency.
It will be so complex, that only the developers and engineers understand it. Not even the election officials stand a chance of fully understanding the mathematics and encryption techniques involved. That is also why any system involving computers in the voting process will always be contested.
But it's of course good for one thing: cheating!