Example: voters are registered, a matter of interested is found. Then ballots are generated for voters, which they receive on their own platforms/devices (for instance in an encrypted email). The ballot itself is in plain and human readable text. Voters fill in their vote (and comment if they wish), send the ballot back. This program then takes over again, and generates the results. The results do not only consist of what was voted on most, but contains all votes including their comment and all false votes if any, giving each voter comprehensive information about the voting process. The results are published as a non interactive website on a web server, voters can view these results from their own platforms/devices.
See also cartoon explanation and/or picture explanation.
Sede attempts to have so many features, and communicate efficiently with other Unix programs, so that you will not quickly be disappointed if you want something.
The program is not web based or e-mail based. It is abstracted from particular protocols. Ballots are ultimately plain text files, therefore they can be moved back and forth in different ways, even on a per voter basis. You can for instance write a ballot in a program-text form (java script for use within a HTML e-mail attachment for instance), as long as a plain text form is recreated eventually for processing. Results are also plain text files, these can also be mass communicated in many ways. So, while some voters may receive an encrypted email, others may receive for the same voting process: a hard copy letter, a miniature SMS-ballot, a plain text email, through a telephone voice service, an email encrypted with a different encryption program, etc. And while results can be comfortably viewed on a web-page, the results can also be printed on paper in large lists, scroll past TV screens at night, etc, etc. However, despite this wider ambition that it is already designed for, the currently supported protocols are: for ballots e-mail, and for results publishing HTML or hardcopy printing. Other protocols have not been tested, though they might already work.
This program does not rely on big or complicated database programs, it does data storage and retrieval by itself. You might be able to interface a database program with this program though, for easier voter registration maintenance.
* Development Status: usable, tested, in active development
* Intended Audience: "vote administrators", "vote organizers"
* License: GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2, or (at your option) any later version.
* Operating System: GNU/Linux/Debian-3.1
* Programming Language: C, Zshell script (being moved to C)
* Topic: democracy (anonymous + accountable voting program)
* Translations: only English, voters can be addressed in any language
* Interfaces: interactive command line interface for vote administrators; e-mail/website interface for voters (can be extended in the future, voters do not need to install anything but use their own interfaces).