ELECTIONS WITH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY: CAN ELECTRONIC VOTING PUT AN END TO THE DEBATES IN TÜRKİYE?

Year 2024, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 112 - 132, 28.10.2024

Hakan Yıldırım , Cihan Ünal

Abstract

Elections in Turkey have a long-standing tradition, with citizens going to the polls being considered a hallmark of democratic participation. However, issues related to security, transparency and legitimacy have eroded public trust in the electoral process, especially following events such as the use of unstamped ballots in the 2017 Constitutional Referendum and the annulment of the 2019 Istanbul elections. These concerns are not unique to Turkey; similar issues exist globally.
Around the world, digital solutions are being explored to address these problems. For instance, countries like Estonia, Switzerland and South Korea have integrated blockchain technology into their election processes. In countries such as the United States and Canada, blockchain-based projects have been developed to facilitate voting for citizens living abroad. The transparent, secure and decentralized structure offered by blockchain holds great potential in preventing vote manipulation and ensuring the reliability of election processes.
In Turkey, although SECSIS namely Election Information System digitally manages voter registrations and address information, it does not play a direct role in the voting process. It is important to note the distinction between e-elections and e-voting; e-elections encompass the entire process, while e-voting only involves the act of casting votes. The widespread adoption and acceptance of electronic signatures (e-signatures) also took time, with pilot programs addressing many of the concerns. Similarly, blockchain-supported electronic voting systems have not yet been implemented in Turkey, but it is recommended that this technology be integrated, tested and piloted. By strengthening legal frameworks, enhancing cybersecurity measures and increasing public acceptance, it is believed that blockchain technology could contribute to election security and transparency in Turkey.

Keywords

Blockchain-based election technology, E-voting systems, Election security, Digital ballot, Election transparency.

References

• Adiputra, C. K., Hjort, R., & Sato, H. (2018). A proposal of blockchain-based electronic voting system. In Proceedings of the 2018 Second World Conference on Smart Trends in Systems, Security and Sustainability (WorldS4) (pp. 22–27). IEEE.
• Benabdallah, A., Audras, A., Coudert, L., El Madhoun, N., & Badra, M. (2022). Analysis of blockchain solutions for e-voting: A systematic literature review. IEEE Access, 10, 70746–70759.
• Berenjestanaki, M., Barzegar, H. R., El Ioini, N., & Pahl, C. (2024). Blockchain-based e-voting systems: A technology review. Electronics, 13(1), 17.
• Birch, A. H. (2011). Full participation: A comparative study of democracy and political inclusion. United Nations University Press.
• BlockApps. (n.d.). The impact of blockchain on voting systems and governance. BlockApps.
• Buchstein, H. (2004). Online democracy, is it viable? Is it desirable? Internet voting and normative democratic theory. In Electronic voting and democracy: A comparative analysis (pp. 39–58). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
• Cointelegraph. (2020, February 13). India’s citizens will vote with blockchain, election commissioner says. Cointelegraph.
• Council of Europe. (2016). Living together as equals in culturally diverse democratic societies. Council of Europe.
• Çabuk, U. C., Adiguzel, E., & Karaarslan, E. (2020). A survey on feasibility and suitability of blockchain techniques for e-voting systems. arXiv, arXiv:2002.07175.
• Çetinkaya, A. (2011). The effects of media reflections of public opinion research about 2010 referendum in Turkey on public opinion (Publication No. 28594626) [Doctoral dissertation, Marmara University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
• Desouza, K. C., & Somvanshi, K. K. (2018, May 30). How blockchain could improve election transparency. Brookings.
• Egeliği, Ö. E. (2024). Yurt dışında yaşayan Türk vatandaşlarının oy hakkı ve temsili [The right to vote of Turkish citizens living abroad and their representation]. TAÜHFD, 6(1), 386–444.
• Elklit, J., & Reynolds, A. (2002). The impact of election administration on the legitimacy of emerging democracies: A new comparative politics research agenda. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 40(2), 86–119.Goodwin-Gill, G. S. (2006). Free and fair elections. Inter-Parliamentary Union.
• Fischer, E. A., & Coleman, K. J. (2007). The direct recording electronic voting machine (DRE) controversy: FAQs and misperceptions. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
• Hjálmarsson, F. Þ., Hreiðarsson, G. K., Hamdaqa, M., & Hjálmtýsson, G. (2018). Blockchain-based e-voting system. In Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE 11th International Conference on Cloud Computing (CLOUD) (pp. 983–986). IEEE.
• Jafar, U., Ab Aziz, M. J., & Shukur, Z. (2021). Blockchain for electronic voting system—Review and open research challenges. Sensors, 21(17), 5874.
• Johnson, D. (2019). Blockchain-based voting in the US and EU constitutional orders: A digital technology to secure democratic values? European Journal of Risk Regulation, 10(2), 330–358.
• Jones, D. W. (2003). The evaluation of voting technology. In Secure electronic voting (pp. 3–16). Springer.
• Katz, R., & Sjoberg, F. M. (2022). Why ballot secrecy still matters. Journal of Democracy, 33(3), 62–76.
• Krimmer, R., & Volkamer, M. (2005). Bits or paper? Comparing remote electronic voting to postal voting. In Proceedings of the EGOV (Workshops and Posters), Copenhagen, Denmark, 22–26 August 2005 (pp. 225–232). Citeseer.
• Kshetri, N., & Voas, J. (2018). Blockchain-enabled e-voting. IEEE Software, 35(4), 95–99.
• Malhotra, M., Kumar, A., Kumar, S., & Yadav, V. (2022). Untangling e-voting platform for secure and enhanced voting using blockchain technology. In Transforming management with AI, big-data, and IoT (pp. 51–72). Springer International Publishing.
• Norris, P. (2014). Why electoral integrity matters. Cambridge University Press.
• Olgun, K. (2011). Türkiye’de Cumhuriyetin ilanından 1950’ye genel seçim uygulamaları. Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi, 27(79),
• Pawlak, M., & Poniszewska-Marańda, A. (2021). Trends in blockchain-based electronic voting systems. Information Processing & Management, 58, 102595.
• Peelam, M. S., Kumar, G., Shah, K., & Chamola, V. (2024). DemocracyGuard: Blockchain-based secure voting framework for digital democracy. Advance.
• Powell, G. B. (2000). Elections as instruments of democracy: Majoritarian and proportional visions. Yale University Press.
• Rose, R. (2004). The impact of elections: What voters can expect from the next election. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Sallal, M., de Fréin, R., & Malik, A. (2023). PVPBC: Privacy and verifiability preserving e-voting based on permissioned blockchain. Future Internet, 15(4), 121.
• Sensing, I., & Systems Group, U. (2023). Blockchain-based electronic voting: A secure and transparent solution. Cryptography, 7(2), 27.
• SETA. (2009). 29 Mart 2009 yerel seçimler özel raporu: Türkiye İnsan Hakları Vakfı. SETA.
• Soysal, M. (2023). 7 Kasım 1982 tarihli anayasa halk oylaması üzerine bir değerlendirme: Plebisit mi, referandum mu? Çağdaş Türkiye Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi, 22(45), 977–1005.
• Tanwar, S., Gupta, N., Kumar, P., & Hu, Y.-C. (2023). Implementation of blockchain-based e-voting system. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 1–32.
• Tyma, B., Dhillon, R., Sivabalan, P., & Wieder, B. (2022). Understanding accountability in blockchain systems. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 35(7), 1625–1655.
• Vladucu, M.-V., Dong, Z., Medina, J., & Rojas-Cessa, R. (2023). E-voting meets blockchain: A survey. IEEE Access, 11, 23293–23308.
• Yüksek Seçim Kurulu. (2017). 2017 Türkiye anayasa referandumu sonuçları ve mühürsüz oy pusulaları kararı. YSK Resmi Sitesi.
• Yüksek Seçim Kurulu. (2019). 2019/4379 sayılı karar: 2019 İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanlığı seçiminin iptali. Yüksek Seçim Kurulu.
• Yüksek Seçim Kurulu. (2024). SECSIS (Seçim Bilişim Sistemi). Yüksek Seçim Kurulu.