DecentroVote: A Scalable Decentralized E-voting Software System Using IPFS as a Storage Mechanism

Over the last decade, technological advancements have improved the performance of everyday tasks, making them more accessible and efficient. This was particularly the case during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when it became necessary to innovate remote systems for a wide range of daily activities. A significant area that still requires innovation, though, is general democratic elections. While individuals can securely access and change sensitive data (e.g., medical, financial) on the electoral register remotely, the idea of real-world electronic voting has been resisted, especially in the USA. A significant problem with “Internet voting” centers around the issue of trustworthiness. To address these concerns, this paper introduces a system that implements secure, trustworthy electronic voting software that eligible voters can use to exercise their fundamental right to vote. Although existing systems and theoretical proposals have attempted to solve the problem of electronic voting, an entirely accepted system that will enable adoption remains unavailable due to a lack of trust in such systems. The paper therefore proposes a system featuring decentralized software for voting and data storage. This system also allows all stakeholders to see the source code that processes their votes. No centralized (potentially biased) entity is in charge of keeping the data—the cast votes. Thus, this project implements a prototype application that can solve the issues at hand.