Ahead of the 2020 general elections in America, tech giant, Microsoft, has announced the launch of a new software set to tackle cyberattacks and digital election manipulation. With a test run already carried out in Fulton, Wisconsin on February 18, 2020, the new software, ElectionGuard, allows voters to track and verify that their votes have been counted without any external alterations.

How does it work?

ElectionGuard is an open-source voting machine software that works through a process known as “homomorphic encryption.” Reducing chances of intimidation and bribery by keeping the votes private, Microsoft’s homomorphic encryption converts choices into random lines of codes that allow for votes to be counted and tracked simultaneously.

Explaining the voting process, Tom Burt, Vice President for Customer Security & Trust at Microsoft, stated that the voting experience was achieved following a “three-step process.” The voters are allowed to select their candidates and place their votes on the touchscreen provided, the votes will then be printed out, verified by the voter and placed in a ballot next to it. It is imperative to note that the printout comes with two sheets of paper: one for the ballot box, and the other, which contains the votes cast and a QR code, to serve as a receipt used to verify and track your votes online when polls close.

The software is currently running on voting machines in Americ developed by VotingWorks, with other voting machine vendors like Smartmatic and Clear Ballot announcing partnerships with Microsoft to include the software in their machines.

Surprisingly, ElectionGuard took a commendable nine months from its initial announcement to its first test run. Announced in May 2019, the first demowas presented in July, the first ElectionGuard code on GitHub released in September, and a bug bounty program opened in October 2019. A test run was carried out in Fulton, Wisconsin, for its state Supreme Court elections.