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Experimental Quantum Electronic Voting
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 060803 – Published 7 August, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/scjl-5ygh
Abstract
Quantum information protocols offer significant advantages in properties such as security, anonymity, and privacy for communication and computing tasks. An application in which guaranteeing the highest possible security and privacy is critical for democratic societies is electronic voting. As computational power continues to evolve, classical voting schemes may become increasingly vulnerable to information leakage. In this Letter, we present the experimental demonstration of an information-theoretically-secure and efficient electronic voting protocol that, crucially, does not rely on election authorities, leveraging the unique properties of quantum states. Our experiment is based on a high-performance source of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and realizes a proof-of-principle implementation of the protocol in two scenarios: a configuration with four voters and two candidates employing privacy enhancement techniques and an election scenario supporting up to eight voters and 16 candidates. The latter is particularly well suited for secure board-level elections within organizations or small-scale governmental contexts.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Focus
Quantum-Secure Ballots Demonstrated in the Lab
Two research teams have run small-scale demonstrations of voting protocols that could ensure election security using the principles of quantum mechanics.
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See Also
Experimental Quantum Voting Using Photonic Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger States
Article Text
Supplemental Material
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