Our world is evolving from traditional methods to a digital-first approach. Central to this transformation is the integration of privacy, digital trust, and security into system design. Edinburgh Napier’s Centre for Cybersecurity, IoT and Cyberphysical Systems is at the forefront of this change, leveraging our expertise and innovation in areas such as cybersecurity, cryptography, blockchain, digital trust, and more.

Problem

Amid a shifting democratic landscape and concerns about declining voter turnout, growing distrust in the electoral system, and the need for greater accessibility, Democracy Counts is exploring several advanced technologies to enhance the electoral registration process. 

Solution

Through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), Democracy Counts has partnered with Edinburgh Napier University to develop cutting-edge, citizen-focused voting technology. Their goal is to develop a trusted, end-to-end verification process, for both citizens and candidates, in the electoral registration process.

Securing voting integrity, while ensuring digital trust 

Democracy Counts is a market-leading provider of electoral management software, support services and training to the UK Government and local authorities across Scotland, England and Wales.

To continue to grow and innovate, their focus is now on digitising the voting process itself. They have partnered with Edinburgh Napier through a KTP project, to focus on developing unique software services for digitising most aspects of an election process in the UK. This transformation aims to replace the antiquated, lengthy, paper-based approach with a speedy, more secure and more reliable, digital voting system.

Developing digital citizen wallets of the future

Many people are now comfortable using digital wallets on their phones to store information such as their driver’s license, national insurance number, or travel bookings. Through this KTP partnership, the team aims to revolutionise voting and election management in the UK through the development of digital wallet for citizens.

The core challenge of this project is transforming a centuries-old voting system, while ensuring integrity and trust in the new digital voting process and addressing privacy concerns. As well as developing new citzen wallets of the future, the team has been conducting extensive simulations involving millions of people registering, creating their bespoke digital wallets, and reaching the point where they can identify themselves at polling stations, all while complying with the latest legislation and regulations in the digital wallet ecosystem. Ultimately, this work is expected to revolutionise the running of elections using these new digital methods