University Voting Systems Competition
Encyclopedia
The University Voting Systems Competition, or VoComp is an annual competition in which teams of students design, implement, and demonstrate open-source election systems. The systems are presented to a panel of security expert judges. The winners are awarded a cash prize provided by the sponsors. The competition was started by a group of students and professors from UMBC and George Washington University
to inspire better ideas for electronic voting
technology and raise student awareness of the political process.
The first competition took place on July 16 - 19 during the 2006/2007 academic year in Portland, Oregon
. The event was sponsored by The National Science Foundation
, Election Systems & Software
, and Hewlett-Packard Company. The four teams that competed were: The Prêt-à-Voter Battle Bus
from University of Surrey
, The Voting Ducks from Wroclaw University of Technology
, Prime III from Auburn University
, and Punchscan
a team consisting of members from George Washington University
, University of Ottawa
, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The judging panel included MIT professor Ron Rivest
, Microsoft security researcher Josh Benaloh and John Kelsey of NIST.
The Punchscan team was awarded the "Best-Election System" grand prize and $10,000 from ES&S after uncovering a security flaw in the random number generator in the source code of the runner-up team, Pret-a-Voter..
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
to inspire better ideas for electronic voting
Electronic voting
Electronic voting is a term encompassing several different types of voting, embracing both electronic means of casting a vote and electronic means of counting votes....
technology and raise student awareness of the political process.
2006/2007 academic year
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. The event was sponsored by The National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, Election Systems & Software
Election Systems & Software
Election Systems & Software is an American company that provides voting services.ES&S is a subsidiary of McCarthy Group, LLC, which is jointly held by the holding firm and the Omaha World-Herald Company, the publisher of Nebraska's largest newspaper. As of 2007 it was the largest manufacturer of...
, and Hewlett-Packard Company. The four teams that competed were: The Prêt-à-Voter Battle Bus
Prêt à Voter
Prêt à Voter is an E2E voting system devised by Peter Ryan of the University of Luxembourg. It aims to provide guarantees of accuracy of the count and ballot privacy that are independent of software, hardware etc. Assurance of accuracy flows from maximal transparency of the process, consistent with...
from University of Surrey
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...
, The Voting Ducks from Wroclaw University of Technology
Wroclaw University of Technology
Wrocław University of Technology is an autonomous technical university in Wrocław, Poland. With buildings dispersed throughout the city, its main facilities are gathered at a central location near Plac Grunwaldzki, alongside the Oder River...
, Prime III from Auburn University
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
, and Punchscan
Punchscan
Punchscan is an optical scan vote counting system invented by cryptographer David Chaum. Punchscan is designed to offer integrity, privacy, and transparency. The system is voter-verifiable, provides an end-to-end audit mechanism, and issues a ballot receipt to each voter...
a team consisting of members from George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
, University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The judging panel included MIT professor Ron Rivest
Ron Rivest
Ronald Linn Rivest is a cryptographer. He is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Computer Science at MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory...
, Microsoft security researcher Josh Benaloh and John Kelsey of NIST.
The Punchscan team was awarded the "Best-Election System" grand prize and $10,000 from ES&S after uncovering a security flaw in the random number generator in the source code of the runner-up team, Pret-a-Voter..