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Every day, we put our trust in the security of the machines that power and protect our lives. We trust banks to digitally move funds from one account to another. We trust smart pacemakers and surgical robots to stand up to hackers.

The idea of trusting machines to deliver election results, however, is something many voters still can’t wrap their minds around.

That’s not the case everywhere. In Brazil and India, two of the world’s most populous countries, electronic voting has been the norm for more than 20 years. This helps these countries deliver election results within hours, and

So why is distrust preventing some of the world’s most technologically advanced nations from embracing electronic voting? And how can digital trust help secure elections—and restore voters’ faith in the results?

Are digital or paper ballots more secure?

From content streaming to online shopping, the world is increasingly reliant on digital tools—and increasingly willing to trust those tools as long as they see evidence of privacy and security.

In the case of digital voting, the technology is relatively young. News about efforts to secure voting processes hasn’t caught up to the concerns that make headlines. Many voters believe digitization creates more room—not less—for bad actors to influence the outcomes of elections.

And their fears aren’t entirely unfounded: The 2014 Ukrainian presidential election was nearly sabotaged by a , and hackers have attempted to in countries like Norway and the Netherlands.

But physical ballots aren’t without their flaws. In 2000, the outcome of the United States presidential election was put in the hands of magnifying glass-wielding officials examining improperly punched ballots. In 2020, dotted a number of California counties, and a California man was arrested in 2021 for from a Postal Service vehicle.

Putting digital trust to work for election integrity

Done right, a digitized voting system is far more secure than analog. In this context, digital trust comes in the form of tools and processes like document signing that provide identity, encryption, and integrity to a ballot.

Think of a digital ballot as a document instead of software on a screen. Like physical ballots, digital ballots document voting choices for counting and records, providing a written record of a citizen’s choice for elected officials and governing laws.

Here’s how document signing can protect online votes:

• Data encryption: Ballots are securely transmitted from the voting machine to counters.
• Data authentication: Votes are unalterable once signed, and any tampering attempts trigger a notification to election officials.
• Non-repudiation: Ballots can’t be duplicated or faked.
• Archiving and timestamping: Election officials know when and by whom the ballot was signed and can verify the data contained within the signed document hasn’t been altered—even centuries after the voting took place.
• Cryptographically unique identities: Each ballot is encrypted and authenticated under a certificate that’s more unique than a state-issued ID or even a fingerprint.Ìý

Distrust: One of the greatest threats to the democratic process

In some jurisdictions, a fear of technology is moving things in the wrong direction. One Texas county scrapped voting machines for its 2024 Republican primary, instead deciding to .

This antiquated method of determining an election winner is both labor- and cost-intensive, and most experts agree hand-counting ballots is less accurate and secure than using a voting machine.Ìý

New technologies will always introduce new opportunities for tampering. But properly developed and administered digital voting tools are as secure—and in many cases more so—than their paper counterparts. In the case of document signing, voters’ selections are secured and protected, and once recorded, their choices can be protected and validated indefinitely.

Solutions like document signing don’t just protect votes and the people casting them. They also have the power to restore trust in the electoral system, protecting the democratic process by showing citizens that the officials in office are there as the result of honest, verifiable elections.

The latest developments in digital trust

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