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Voting keys

Every ballot is signed with a voting key of the voter's own. Depending on how it is provided, the platform may have known it for a moment, or never: you choose the level of trust your vote calls for.

By defaultThe platform generates the keys. Your voters have nothing to install or keep: they open their link and vote. This setting suits most votes.

01 · At a glance

Who handles the key, who can know it, and what does it ask of the voter?

The first three modes coexist within one election, voter by voter: the platform generates a key for those who do not bring one. Mandatory deposit removes that safety net.

Comparison of the four ways voting keys are provided
Mode Who hands the public key to the platform Who could know the secret key What it asks of the voter
Generated by the platform By default Nobody: the platform creates the key pair itself. The platform, until it hands the key over to the voter. Nothing: open their link and vote.
Imported by the organizer In draft, with the electoral roll You: the voter, or your organization, sends you the public key and you import it. The voter, and possibly you or your organization: nothing proves otherwise. Never the platform. Having their own key pair, sending you its public key, keeping the secret key until they vote.
Deposited by the voter themselves During the key deposit period The voter: their browser deposits it straight on the platform, without going through you. The voter alone: their secret key stays on their device. Neither you nor the platform. Opening their personal link during the key deposit period, creating their key, keeping their file until they vote.
Mandatory deposit The key deposit period cannot be skipped Each voter, or you for an imported key: the platform creates none. Never the platform, for any voter. For an imported key, possibly you or your organization. The most demanding: everyone must deposit their key, or have you import it. No key, no vote.

At closing, the register publishes where each voter's key came from: anyone can count the voters for whom the platform held a key.

02 · Imported key or deposited key

Two paths for a key the voter brings

In both cases, the voter keeps their secret key and the platform never sees it. What changes: who the public key goes through, and therefore who could know the secret key.

Imported by the organizer

In draft, before any key deposit period

  1. The voter, or your organization Creates a key pair outside the platform and keeps the secret key.
  2. sends the public key
    You, the organizer Import the public key with the electoral roll: one at a time, or in your voter file.
  3. imported public key
    The platform Places the public key among the other voters' keys when the vote opens.
The secret key
Known to the voter, and possibly to you or your organization. Never to the platform.

Deposited by the voter themselves

During the key deposit period

  1. The voter, from their personal link Their browser creates the key pair and gives them a file to keep.
  2. deposits the public key, without going through you
    The platform Receives the public key straight from the voter and places it when the vote opens.
The secret key
Known to the voter alone: it never left their device. Neither you nor the platform.
03 · The four modes

Generated, imported, deposited: each mode in detail

Generated by the platform (default)

What it does
The platform creates each voter's key and hands it over when they vote, once they ask for it on their voting page.
When to choose it
For most votes: associations, assemblies, teams. Nobody has anything to prepare or keep.
What it changes
The platform may have known the key until it handed it over: you have to trust it at that moment. Nothing to do for the voter.
In detail

Before it is handed over, the key is kept encrypted. Once handed over, the platform keeps only a temporary copy, so that a voter who reloads their page gets the same key back: it is erased as soon as the ballot is accepted, and at the latest three hours later.

A voter can obtain a key up to three times. You can exceptionally grant them more: that number is published on the register at closing.

When the vote closes, any key the platform still holds is erased.

A voter added during the vote always receives a key generated by the platform: this mode is what makes such additions possible.

Imported by the organizer

What it does
The voter, or your organization, creates a key pair outside the platform and sends you its public key. While in draft, you import it with the electoral roll: one at a time, or in the public_key column of your voter file.
When to choose it
When your voters already have their own key, from a previous election for instance, and you gather their public keys yourself.
What it changes
The platform never sees the secret key, so it cannot vote in the voter's place. You, or your organization, may have known it: nothing can prove otherwise.
In detail

Importing is only possible in draft; until then you can replace or remove a key. Once the key deposit period is open, you can no longer import: a voter whose key was not imported deposits it themselves.

When voting, the voter pastes their secret key on their voting page, or loads their file: it signs their ballot without ever being sent.

One key can serve several independent elections. A public key can, however, appear only once in an electoral roll.

A lost key cannot be replaced: the voter will not be able to vote, and the platform will not provide a fallback key.

Deposited by the voter themselves

What it does
You open the key deposit period before the vote, and each voter receives their personal link by email. From that link, their browser creates their key and deposits its public key straight on the platform, without going through you.
When to choose it
When you want nobody but the voter, neither the platform nor you, ever to have been able to know their secret key, without forcing it on everyone.
What it changes
Only the voter knows their secret key: it never left their device. In return, they must keep their file until they vote.
In detail

Nothing to install: it all happens in the browser. Only the public key is sent to the platform; the secret key is shown once and the file is built on the voter's device.

A voter who already has their own key can deposit it too: they paste their public key, or load their file, from which only the public key is extracted and sent.

While the key deposit period is open, the voter can replace their key. Opening the period already freezes the candidates, the voting method and the ballot rules; the electoral roll then only accepts additions.

Depositing remains optional: a voter who deposits nothing will receive a key generated by the platform. But a voter who deposited a key and loses their file will not be able to vote: no fallback key will be provided.

Mandatory deposit

What it does
A single setting, while in draft: the platform no longer generates any key. Every voter must have deposited theirs during the key deposit period, or had you import it, before the vote opens.
When to choose it
For votes where the trust placed in the platform must be minimal, with voters ready to look after their key.
What it changes
The platform never holds any key: it could not sign in anyone's place, even if it wanted to. A voter with no key, or who lost it, cannot vote.
In detail

The key deposit period can no longer be skipped, and the vote can only be launched with at least two deposited or imported keys. During the period, you see who has already deposited their key, so you can remind the others.

No voter can be added during the vote: with no key generated by the platform, they could not receive one.

Since every voter is known at launch, their keys are split into signing groups of balanced size: no group is left nearly empty. Anonymity still depends on turnout: in a very small vote, no setting can guarantee it.

04 · Good to know

Election groups, and what no mode changes

In an election group

The key deposit period and its rule, optional or mandatory, are shared by every election of the group: a deposited or imported key serves for each of them. To make this work, the platform keeps the link between the voter and their public key until the group is closed, never their secret key.

Election groups

What no key mode changes

  • Whatever the mode, you can see which signing group each voter voted in. Their ballot stays hidden among that group's ballots; but if almost nobody else votes in it, their choice could be guessed.
  • When a ballot is submitted, the platform sees the voter's connection go by, as with any authenticated online vote.
  • What is published, and what anyone can check, stays the same in every mode.
What you see, what the public sees Security: the big picture

Going further

Frequently asked questions

What is a voting key?
A key pair of each voter's own. The secret key signs their ballot; the public key appears, among other voters' keys, on the election register. The signature proves the ballot comes from a registered voter, without saying which one.
Imported key or deposited key: what is the difference?
An imported key goes through you: the voter, or your organization, sends you its public key and you import it in draft. So you may have known its secret key. A deposited key never goes through you: during the key deposit period, the voter's browser creates it and deposits it itself. Either way, the platform never knows the secret key.
What happens if a voter loses their voting key?
With a key generated by the platform, they ask for another one: up to three times, more if you grant it. With an imported or deposited key, there is no fallback key: they will not be able to vote, just like an absentee. Their unused public key stays published, with no effect on the result.
Can the platform vote in a voter's place?
Only with a key it generated: that is the moment you have to trust it. With an imported or deposited key it is impossible, because it never knew the secret key; mandatory deposit extends that guarantee to every voter. At closing, the register publishes where each key came from.

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Security, public register and proofs How ballot secrecy and verifiability hold together: signatures, public register, blockchain, verification. See security All the advanced options