Imagine every ballot posted in public, with no names attached. You could find yours with your own key, count every vote yourself, and nobody could tell which one is yours.
Same paper ballot. Same polling place. Nothing new to learn.
Only you hold it. It finds your ballot on the public list, so you can see it was counted exactly as marked.
All ballots are public, with keys instead of names. Add them up yourself and compare with the result.
Today, what happens inside the counting machine is invisible to you. Flip the switch to see the difference.
✓ You can see this
✕ Nobody outside can look inside
✕ Take their word for it
Even with honest officials, nobody outside can double-check the count.
Click through four quick steps: get a key, find your ballot, then count every vote yourself. It all runs in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
This key is the only thing that connects you to your ballot. Part of it comes from you, so the machine can’t fake it or give the same one to someone else. The system never records whose key is whose. Only you know.
Each ballot key combines machine randomness with a random code from the voter (a card drawn at check-in, or their own device), and is printed on the anonymous paper ballot. No system may record any link between the key and the voter’s identity, check-in, or time of casting. Taking the key is optional; an unclaimed key is destroyed.
Short visual walkthroughs for voters, election officials, auditors, reporters, and anyone who wants to check for themselves.
Not promises from an official. Things you can check for yourself.
Know your own vote counted, exactly as you marked it.
Know the equipment hasn’t been tampered with.
Nothing about how votes are counted is secret.
Know every ballot came from a real, eligible voter.
Count every vote yourself and confirm the total.
They can see every vote, but not whose vote it is. Each ballot is posted under an anonymous key instead of a name, and the system never records which key belongs to which voter. Only you know which ballot is yours.
No. You still vote on paper, exactly like today. This adds a way to check what happens after your ballot goes into the machine.
Neither. It’s a rulebook: a set of requirements every voting system would have to meet. Any company whose equipment passes can keep selling it.
No. It doesn’t favor any party, candidate, or outcome. It just makes the count checkable, so everyone can trust the result, whoever wins.
Think of a giant pile of unsigned ballots. Anyone can read and count every one, but none of them has a name on it. Your key is the only thing that points to yours, and only you have it.
Taking a key is optional, and nothing records whether you did, so you can always leave it in the booth and have nothing to show. Your receipt has no name, signature, or time on it, so it never shows who cast the ballot. Paying for a vote or demanding proof of one is a federal crime. One honest limit: anyone holding a receipt can open the ballot it points to, so a receipt can be used to show someone how a ballot was marked. Keep yours to yourself. That limit is on our Known weaknesses page.
Open for anyone to read and improve
Every voting system must follow it
Equipment is tested against the rules
Receipts and public proofs in every election
Congress can make this the law. The first step is people knowing it’s possible.