Barcelona, 30 July 2019 – In the interests of transparency and at the request of the NSW Electoral Commission, Scytl, who was awarded a multi-year contract to refresh the NSW online and phone voting software also known as iVote®, has published components of its proprietary source code that enabled online voting in the 2019 NSW state election.
The source code, developed by Scytl and engaged by the NSW Electoral Commission to empower online voting during the election, is available to those who register at .
“We have published the source code to allow independent researchers to review it in order to aid continuous improvement of the code base by finding and communicating any vulnerabilities they may find,” said Sam Campbell, Scytl General Manager for Asia-Pacific.
“The terms of use are published with the source code and stipulate that any vulnerabilities discovered must be reported to Scytl and the NSW Electoral Commission,” Mr Campbell said. “Scytl supports responsible disclosure practices and encourages interested people to step forward to support this initiative and share with us any finding regarding iVote®.”
In March 2019, over 230,000 NSW voters successfully cast their vote through iVote®, with over 60% of non-attendance voters choosing to use the system and of those nearly 1 out of every 2 voters verified the correct casting of their vote through the official election app.
A finding identified prior to the election, resulting from testing of the Scytl source code in Switzerland, was fixed with a patch provided to the NSW Electoral Commission. Other findings identified in the Swiss system have not been relevant to the NSW voting solution provided by Scytl.
Scytl has successfully supported iVote® deployment in the 2015 and 2019 NSW state elections, the 2017 Western Australia state election and multiple NSW byelections. Having received recognition from Zero Project earlier this year for its innovative and secure practices supporting persons with disabilities to vote independently, privately and securely, the iVote® system continues to lead the way as the most accessible and advanced electronic voting solution.
iVote® is a registered trademark of the NSW Electoral Commission.
About Scytl
Scytl is leading the digital transformation and innovation in elections worldwide. Built up over 20 years of research and protected by over 40 international patents, Scytl’s solutions have been successfully used in over 30 countries across the globe, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, South Africa, India and Australia. Scytl is headquartered in Barcelona and backed by leading international VC investors such as Vulcan Capital, Balderton Capital, and Nauta Capital. For more information, visit www.scytl.com.
For further information contact:
John McClymont, Daylight Agency
T: 0432 327 257
E: jmcclymont@daylightagency.com.au