JPH10289282A - Electronic voting data and electronic voting system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide a safe and fair electronic voting system. When a voter inputs personal information such as ID information and an authentication number to an electronic voting terminal, an electronic voting screen is displayed on a display if the input personal information is registered in an electoral list, and voting is performed. I do. The voting information is transmitted to the tallying computer 21 via the communication line 3 in a state embedded by the digital watermarking technology. The identity information embedded in the electronic voting data is read by the information detection unit 23, and is compared and collated by the comparison and collation unit 24 with the identity information of the voter processed by the terminal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic voting system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an electronic voting system has been developed which has the characteristic that "voting can be performed using a computer, and the ballot can be obtained immediately after the voting is completed." In this system, since the voting terminal and the tallying terminal are connected online, there is no need for manual intervention, and it is possible to prevent tallying errors.

In an electronic voting system, it is important to confirm the validity of an elector who makes a vote from a voting terminal, and to eliminate an inflating operation at the time of counting to prevent illegal voting.

Conventionally, as means for preventing illegal voting, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-28915, an elector brings an IC card to a polling place to confirm his / her identity. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 16680, the voting terminal has a reception terminal and a voting terminal, registers a voting permission ID at the reception terminal, and allows the voting terminal to permit only one voting with the voting permission ID. An electronic voting system is disclosed.

[0005]

However, the conventional electronic voting system has a problem that an elector is obliged to possess an IC card and the reception time is long. Also, the more rigorous the identity of the elector, the more the secret purpose of secret balloting can be deviated.

An object of the present invention is to provide a safe and fair electronic voting system without impairing the merits of electronic voting.

[0007]

In the first electronic voting data of the present invention, personal information is embedded in image information by a digital watermark technique.

In the second electronic voting data of the present invention, personal information is embedded in a printed voting paper by a digital watermark technique, and is converted into image information by reading by optical means.

[0009] The first electronic voting system of the present invention comprises:
Or a second information detecting means for reading out personal information embedded in the voted electronic voting data, and a comparing and collating means for comparing and collating the information with reception information recorded at the time of voting. Follow up the process.

In the third electronic voting data of the present invention, time stamp information is embedded in image information by a digital watermark technique.

In the fourth electronic voting data of the present invention, time stamp information is embedded in a printed voting paper by a digital watermark technique, and is converted into image information by reading by optical means.

[0012] The second electronic voting system of the present invention comprises a third electronic voting system.
Alternatively, information detecting means for reading the time stamp information embedded in the fourth electronic voting data, comparison and collation means for collating the read time stamp information with the voting time, If there is no ballot within the time set, there is a vote invalidation means for invalidating the vote.

In the fifth electronic voting data of the present invention, history information is embedded in image information by a digital watermark technique.

In the sixth electronic voting data of the present invention, history information is embedded in a printed voting paper by a digital watermark technique, and is converted into image information by reading by optical means.

[0015] The third electronic voting system of the present invention comprises a fifth electronic voting system.
Alternatively, information detection means for reading history information embedded in the sixth electronic voting data, comparison and collation means for checking a voting place from the read history information, and a result of the comparison and collation means checking, There is voting invalidation means for invalidating the voting when a voting is performed from a terminal different from the terminal.

The present invention is summarized as follows. (1) The personal information is embedded in the image information of the electronic voting data by digital watermark technology, and the voting process is traced. (2) The time stamp information is embedded in the image information of the electronic voting data by a digital watermark technique, and the voting is invalidated when the voting is not performed within a preset time. (3) The history information is embedded in the image information of the electronic voting data by digital watermarking technology, and when a vote is made from a terminal different from a preset terminal, the vote is invalidated.

It should be noted that various information is embedded in the printed voting paper by a digital watermark technique, and includes reading by an optical means and converting it into electronic voting data.

The present invention uses a digital watermark technique for embedding copyright information in a work as a basic technique. The digital watermark technology is a technology that embeds other information in digital information (image (still image, moving image), sound) so as not to be perceived by a human, and can extract the embedded information when necessary. .

FIG. 8 (a) shows the principle of the digital watermarking technique when digital information is image information.
(B) (for details, refer to Japanese Patent Application No. 8-30537).
No. 0, Japanese Patent Application No. 8-338679).

FIG. 8A is a diagram showing a flow of processing for embedding another information (embedded information) in the image information. In the disassembly process 31, the original image is disassembled into a plurality of blocks each having n pixels × m pixels. In the case of a moving image, it is divided for each frame, and each frame is decomposed into a plurality of blocks. In the orthogonal transformation processing 32, discrete cosine transformation (DCT transformation) is performed on each block decomposed in the decomposition processing 31.
And so on to obtain an n × m frequency component matrix.
Prior to the embedding of the embedding information, an embedding position for determining at which position of the frequency component matrix obtained in the orthogonal transformation process 32 the embedding information is to be embedded is determined by a random number,
Further, a change amount indicating how much the value of the frequency component at the position is changed is determined, and the determined embedding position and the change amount are acquired as key information. When embedding the embedding information, it is not necessary to embed all in the frequency component matrix for one block, but may embed it across the frequency component matrices of a plurality of blocks. As the embedding position,
For example, by selecting a low-frequency portion of the frequency component matrix, it is possible to embed the data so that it cannot be perceived by humans. Also, by changing the change amount, the difference from the original value of the frequency component matrix can be changed, so that the deterioration of the image quality can be controlled. In the embedding process 33, the value of the frequency component matrix of each block is changed based on the embedding position and the change amount of the key information, and the embedding information is embedded. In the inverse orthogonal transform process 34, the frequency component matrix of each block in which the embedding information is embedded by the embedding process 33 is subjected to inverse orthogonal transform to obtain a block image of n pixels × m pixels. In the reconstruction process 35, the block images obtained in the inverse orthogonal transform process 34 are connected to obtain a watermark image in which the embedded information is embedded.

FIG. 8B is a diagram showing the flow of processing for extracting an embedded image from a watermark image. Decomposition processing 3
In step 6, the watermark image is decomposed into a plurality of blocks each including n pixels × m pixels. In the orthogonal transformation processing 37, orthogonal transformation is performed on each block decomposed in the decomposition processing 36 to obtain an n × m frequency component matrix. Extraction processing 3
In step 8, the embedding position and the conversion amount are obtained from the key information used in the embedding process 33, and the embedding information is extracted from the frequency component matrix of each block.

When the digital information is audio information, the specific processing method at the time of embedding and taking out is different from that of the image information, but it is embedded in the redundant part of the audio information as in the case of the image information. Information can be embedded, its position information and the like can be used as key information, and embedded information can be embedded and extracted based on this key information.

As described above, digital watermarking technology
Embedding information cannot be extracted without the key information used at the time of embedding. The embedding information in the key information is not fixed because it is created by random numbers, so it is difficult to decipher the embedded information. Therefore, there is a feature that the embedded information can be embedded so that it cannot be perceived by humans, and that the degree of image quality deterioration can be controlled by changing the change amount.

[0024]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic voting system according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an image diagram of electronic voting data.

This embodiment is an electronic voting system in which a voter directly uses an electronic voting terminal to vote using an input means such as a keyboard and a mouse without using a voting sheet.

The electrons in the polling station ₁ 1 in ~1 _n vote terminal 11
The counting center 2 connected to the polling places 11 ₁ to 1 _n by the communication line 3 has a counting computer 21,
A display terminal 22, an information detecting unit 23 as information detecting means, and a comparing and comparing unit 24 as comparing and comparing means are provided.

The voter goes to the electronic voting terminal 11 installed at each of the polling places 11 ₁ to 1 _n , and inputs personal information such as ID information and an authentication number to the electronic voting terminal 11 by input means such as a keyboard and a mouse. input. Then, it is determined whether or not the entered personal information is registered in the electoral list, and if it is determined that there is eligibility, an image screen of electronic voting data as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display. You. If it is determined that there is no eligibility for voting, the electronic voting screen is not displayed, so that voting cannot be performed.

The electronic voting data will be described assuming a mark sheet format, but may be a format in which the name of a candidate who wants to vote is entered.

If the admission ticket has been distributed to the voters, the name and address written on the admission ticket are read by inserting the admission ticket into the electronic voting terminal 11, and the result is entered into the electoral list. Comparison and collation may be performed.

Electronic voting is performed by clicking the name of a candidate to be voted with a mouse or by inputting an identification number assigned to the candidate with a keyboard. Then, when the voting is completed, the voting information is totaled via the communication line 3 in a state where the personal information input by a keyboard, a mouse or the like is embedded by the above-described digital watermarking technique (the portion described as ID information in FIG. 2). It is transmitted to the tallying computer 21 of the center 2.

In FIG. 2, the embedded information is drawn so that it can be recognized. However, since it is actually dispersed and embedded by specific image processing, it cannot be recognized.

A display terminal 22 is connected to the counting computer 21 so that the counting result can be displayed immediately.

If the voting is completed normally, at this stage
It is the end, for example, polling place 1 ₁ ~ 1_n Accepted at
If the number of people and the number of votes do not match, fraud such as multiple voting
Or that the voting process was not performed normally due to a reception error
Conceivable. So, only when there is such a mistake,
ID number and authentication information embedded in electronic voting data
Is read by the information detection unit 23. This read
Is based on the digital watermarking algorithm
Do it. The key information to extract is confidential information.
Because only those who know the secret information can be extracted,
Confidentiality is ensured.

Then, in the comparison / matching section 24, the extracted information is compared with the voter's identity information processed in the terminal. As a result, it is possible to specify a voting that has been multiple-voted or a voting that has been missed.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an electronic voting system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

In the electronic voting system of this embodiment, the voting
Place 1₁ ~ 1_n An electronic ballot box 16 and ballot paper will be issued within
Reception terminal 12, entry place 13 for filling in ballot paper,
Information detection to detect personal information embedded in the vote paper
Information detecting unit 14 as means, detected personal information and reception
Compare and match the voter's identity processed by terminal 12
A comparison / matching unit 15 as comparison / matching means is provided.
Polling place 1 via line 3 ₁ ~ 1_n Aggregation center connected to
-2 includes a computer 21 for counting and a display terminal 2
2 are provided.

At the polling places 1 ₁ to 1 _n , if the voter is first confirmed at the reception, the ballot is issued and handed to the voter. On this issued ballot, a mark entry part for voting is printed. In addition, personal information such as an ID number and authentication information is embedded in the ballot paper by the digital watermarking technique described above. The image of the voting paper is the same as the image of the electronic voting data shown in FIG. Although the embedded information is depicted in FIG. 2 so as to be readable, it cannot be read because it is actually dispersed and embedded by a specific image processing.

The voter who has received the ballot fills out the corresponding mark entry part of the candidate or political party name at the predetermined entry place 13 and puts it into the electronic ballot box 16. Electronic ballot box 16
Reads the mark entry part of the electronic voting paper, and transmits the voting data to the computer 21 for counting via the communication line 3.

A display terminal 22 is connected to the counting computer 21 so that the counting result can be displayed immediately.

Since the configuration of the apparatus for reading the mark sheet is a known technique, a detailed description is omitted.

If the voting is completed normally, this is the end of the voting process. For example, if the number of people accepted and the number of votes do not match, the voting process may be performed normally due to fraud such as multiple voting or an incorrect reception. It is possible that it was not done. Therefore, only when such a mistake is made, the information detection unit 14 reads the personal information such as the ID number and the authentication information embedded in the ballot paper. For this reading, an image of the entire voting paper is taken in by optical means such as an image scanner, converted into digital data, and the embedded information is extracted in accordance with the algorithm of the digital watermark technology. Since the key information to be extracted is secret information, only the person who knows the secret information can be extracted, so that the confidentiality of the voting is ensured. And the comparison and collation unit 1
In 5, the extracted information is compared with the voter's identity information processed by the reception terminal 12. Based on the result, it is possible to specify a voting paper that has been subjected to multiple voting and a voting paper that has been received incorrectly.

[0043] In the present embodiment has a configuration in which a comparison unit 15 to polling station 1 ₁ in to 1 _n, as in the first embodiment, may be provided in counting center 2.
In this case, electronic voting data is used instead of the voting paper.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an electronic voting system according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an image diagram of electronic voting data.

In this embodiment, the time stamp information, such as the terminal reception time and the required voting time, is embedded in the voting paper by the digital watermarking technique, and the voting paper is collected by the totaling computer of the totaling center 2 via the communication line 3. The electronic voting system is almost the same as that of the first embodiment.

As in the case of the first embodiment, when a voter is found to be eligible for election, an image screen of electronic voting data is displayed on the display as shown in FIG. it can. Then, the electronic voting data is transmitted to the counting computer 21 via the communication line 3 in a state where the time stamp information such as the terminal reception time and the required voting time is embedded in the voting information by the digital watermark technique.

In FIG. 5, the embedded information is drawn so as to be recognized. However, since the information is actually dispersed and embedded by a specific image processing, it cannot be recognized.

A display terminal 22 is connected to the counting computer 21 so that the counting result can be displayed immediately.

In the counting center 2, the embedded time stamp information is extracted by the information detecting unit 23, and the time required for voting is checked by the comparing and comparing unit 24. as a result,
If the voter completes the voting promptly, the counting computer 21 recognizes that the voting is normal and accumulates the voting data therein as valid voting data. However, if the time from the reception time to the voting time is abnormally long, it is considered that there has been fraud, the accumulation of voting data is stopped, and the voting is invalidated. Here, the tallying computer 21 constitutes voting invalidation means.

In this way, it is possible to prevent a person who casts a vote with a person who has accepted the information from being illegally voted by another person and falsification of voting data.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an electronic voting system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, time stamp information such as a reception time and a voting time limit is embedded in a voting paper issued after the reception is completed by digital watermarking technology. The image of the voting paper is the same as the image of the electronic voting data shown in FIG. The configuration of the electronic voting system of this embodiment is almost the same as that of the second embodiment.

When the voting paper is put into the electronic ballot box 16, the embedded time stamp information is read out by the information detecting section 14, and is compared with the voting time by the comparing and comparing section 15. As a result, the electronic ballot box 16 recognizes that the vote is normal if the voter completes the vote promptly, reads the mark entry portion of the ballot paper, and transmits the vote data to the counting computer 21 via the communication line 3. I do. However, if the time from the reception time to the voting time is abnormally long, it is considered that there has been fraud, the transmission of the voting data to the counting computer 21 is stopped, and the voting is invalidated. In this way, the person who accepts the vote and the person who votes can prevent the wrong vote of another person. Here, the electronic ballot box 16 constitutes voting invalidation means.

[0054] In the present embodiment, it is provided with the comparison unit 15 to polling station 1 ₁ in to 1 _n, as in the third embodiment may be configured to provided counting center 2.
In this case, if there is any fraud, the voting transmitted to the tallying computer 21 is invalidated, and the accumulation is stopped.

FIG. 7 is an image diagram of electronic voting data according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The system configuration of this embodiment is the same as that of the third embodiment shown in FIG.

As in the case of the first embodiment, when the voter is found to be eligible for election, an image screen of electronic voting data as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display, and voting can be performed. it can. Then, the history information is transmitted to the counting computer 21 via the communication line 3 in a state where the history information is embedded in the voting information by the digital watermark technique.

This history information is obtained by adding via information in addition to the transmission place in the case of voting at a transmission place (voting place identification number) where voting was performed and a voting place other than the resident's card location.

In FIG. 7, the embedded information is drawn so that it can be recognized. However, since it is actually dispersed and embedded by a specific image processing, it cannot be recognized.

In the counting center 2, the embedded history information is extracted by the information detection unit 23, and the comparison and collation unit 24 checks the polling place. As a result, the counting computer 21
If a voter has voted at a legitimate polling place or confirmed that he / she has voted via a legitimate polling place, it recognizes the vote as a normal vote, as if he / she has voted at the resident's card location, and validates the voting data. It is stored internally as voting data. However, if voting is performed from a terminal other than the determined polling place even though there is no route information, the voting is regarded as an illegal voting, the accumulation of voting data is stopped, and the voting is invalidated. Here, the tallying computer 21 constitutes a voting invalidating means.

In this way, invalid voting can be promptly removed, and at the same time, illegal acts such as proxy voting can be prevented.

Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The configuration of the electronic voting system of this embodiment is the same as that of the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. The place (voting place identification number) is embedded in advance by digital watermark technology.

When a voting paper is put into the electronic ballot box 16, the history information of the transmission place embedded therein is read out by the information detecting section 14, and the validity of the history information is determined by the comparing and collating section 15. As a result, the electronic ballot box 16 recognizes that the vote is normal when the ballot is put into the electronic ballot box 16 in the polling place where the voter has accepted, reads the mark entry part of the ballot paper, and reads the voting data. Is transmitted to the counting computer 21 of the counting center 2 via the communication line 3.
On the other hand, an electronic ballot box 1 at a polling place other than the one where the reception was held
If a ballot of 6 is entered, it will be recognized as an invalid vote,
The transmission of the voting data to the counting computer 21 is stopped, and the voting is invalidated. Also, when voting at a place other than the location of the resident's card is unavoidable, if the identity of the person is confirmed at the reception, the transit location is embedded in the issued ballot paper in place of the sending location by digital watermark technology. As a result, since the voting place matches the embedded transit place, it is recognized as a normal voting, the mark entry portion of the voting paper is read, and the voting data is transmitted to the tallying computer 21 via the communication line 3, and the resident card is obtained. Treated as if you voted at the location. Here, the electronic ballot box 16 constitutes voting invalidation means.

In the present embodiment, the information detection unit 14,
Although the comparison and collation unit 15 is provided in the polling places ₁₁ to 1 _n ,
As in the fifth embodiment, it may be provided in the counting center 2. In this case, if there is any fraud, the voting transmitted to the tallying computer 21 is invalidated, and the accumulation is stopped.

[0064]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily track multiple votes and voting errors,
Also, proxy voting of a person other than the principal can be prevented. Since the embedded information cannot be extracted unless secret information for extraction is known, a safe and fair voting system can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic voting system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an image diagram of electronic voting data according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an electronic voting system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an electronic voting system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an image diagram of electronic voting data according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of an electronic voting system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an image diagram of electronic voting data according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the digital watermarking technique. FIG. 8A is a flowchart of a process of embedding another information in image information.
FIG. 13B is a flowchart of a process of extracting an embedded image from a watermark image.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ₁ 1-1 _n polling place 2 Counting center 3 Communication line 11 Electronic voting terminal 12 Reception terminal 13 Entry place 14 Information detection unit 15 Comparison and collation unit 16 Electronic ballot box 21 Counting computer 22 Display terminal 23 Information detection unit 24 Comparison and collation unit 31 decomposition processing 32 orthogonal transformation processing 33 embedding processing 34 inverse orthogonal transformation processing 35 reconstruction processing 36 decomposition processing 37 orthogonal transformation processing 38 extraction processing

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. Electronic voting data, wherein personal information is embedded in image information by digital watermarking technology. 2. Electronic voting data, wherein personal information is embedded in a printed voting paper by a digital watermarking technique, and is converted into image information by reading by optical means. 3. An electronic voting system according to claim 1, wherein said information detecting means reads out personal information embedded in said voted electronic voting data, and said information and reception information recorded at the time of voting. An electronic voting system, comprising: comparison and comparison means for comparing and collating, and tracing a voting process. 4. Electronic voting data, wherein time stamp information is embedded in image information by digital watermark technology. 5. Electronic voting data, wherein time stamp information is embedded in a printed voting paper by a digital watermark technique, and is converted into image information by reading by optical means. . 6. An electronic voting system, comprising: an information detecting means for reading time stamp information embedded in the electronic voting data according to claim 4; and a comparison and collation for collating the read time stamp information with a voting time. An electronic voting system comprising: a voting unit; and a voting invalidating unit that invalidates the voting if no voting is performed within a preset time as a result of the comparison by the comparing and collating unit. 7. Electronic voting data, wherein history information is embedded in image information by digital watermarking technology. 8. Electronic voting data in which electronic voting data has history information embedded in a printed voting paper by a digital watermarking technique, and is converted into image information by reading by optical means. 9. An electronic voting system, comprising: information detection means for reading history information embedded in the electronic voting data according to claim 7; and comparison / collation means for checking a voting place from the read history information. An electronic voting system comprising: a voting invalidating means for invalidating a voting when a terminal different from a preset terminal is voted as a result of the check by the comparing and collating means.