The Report Card

By Collen Beagen

Headlines have been dominated by stories of voting difficulties, fraud and inappropriate practices within Acorn, while few authorities have offered alternative methods. GWU Computer Science PhD student Stephan Popoveninc, however, spent election testing a new system.

Popoveninc, working independently of the university, in conjuncture with a research team headed by distinguished cryptographer David Chaum, asked international students to cast their ballot.

The ballot featured the standard bubble format, except instead of filling in each bubble with a number two pencil (a terribly complex concept for some states), the voter used a "magic pen." Once the pen glided over the bubble a number-letter code appeared. The voter then recorded their code on their ballot receipt and placed their ballot in the box.

"The voter can go online tomorrow and confirm that their vote was counted properly by comparing the code on their receipt to the code recorded," Popoveninc explained.

The "magic pen" contains chemicals developed by the multinational research team that expose the code within each bubble that is invisible to the naked eye. Every ballot contains different codes; so sacred secret ballot is maintained. 

"This technique empowers voters to check their ballot. Right now they put a ballot in the box, a physical or electronic one, and have no idea as to its fate," Popoveninc said.

This system was being tested on GWU and MIT campuses, with the emphasis on international student ballots. Could this be the future of voting?