David Wagner quoted in article on new trend in voting technology

In an article written by freelance technology journalist Cyrus Farivar, the concept of using cryptography for what is being called end-to-end voter-verifiability is described and analyzed.

In order for public officials to definitively show that the proposed cryptography works as it should, they would have to provide an advanced mathematical proof, or "zero-sum proof" as it is known, whose sheer size would preclude printing it on the ballot.

Among the several academics Farivar interviewed about the new cryptographic approach involved in voter-verifiable systems, Farivar quotes UC Berkeley Professor David Wagner who asks

"Will voters accept something that uses mathematics that they won't understand?"

See details in machinist.