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Experimental Quantum Voting Using Photonic Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger States

F. Joseph Marcellino, Mingsong Wu, and Rob Thew*

  • *Contact author: Robert.Thew@unige.ch

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 060802 – Published 7 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jlvb-t2xl

Abstract

Quantum communication protocols seek to leverage the unique properties of quantum systems for coordination or communication tasks, usually with guarantees of security or anonymity that exceed what is possible classically. One promising domain of application is elections, where strong such guarantees are essential to ensure legitimacy. We experimentally implement a recently proposed election protocol from Centrone et al. [Quantum protocol for electronic voting without election authorities, Phys. Rev. Appl. 18, 014005 (2022)] designed such that no one, including a potential central authority, can know the preferred candidate of any voter other than themself. We conduct a four-party election, generating and distributing four-partite GHZ states with 89% fidelity and successfully recording voters’ intentions 87% of the time.

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Corrections

28 August, 2026

Correction: The captions for the previously published Figs. 2 and 3 were interchanged and have been fixed.

Focus

Quantum-Secure Ballots Demonstrated in the Lab

Published 7 August, 2026

Two research teams have run small-scale demonstrations of voting protocols that could ensure election security using the principles of quantum mechanics.

See more in Physics

See Also

Experimental Quantum Electronic Voting

Nicolas Laurent-Puig, Matilde Baroni, Federico Centrone, and Eleni Diamanti
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 060803 (2026)

Article Text

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