A Feature Centric Survey of Blockchain-Based E-Voting Systems with Secure QR Authentication and Post-Quantum Cryptographic Enhancement

Abstract

The integrity, coupled with the transparency of electoral systems, is vital for the existence of a ‎democratic society if that society is to function well. Often, conventional electronic voting mechanisms ‎are criticized for their security vulnerabilities, with a lack of transparency, together with limited public trust. ‎Blockchain technology has come about to be a possible enabler for trustless and immutable ‎systems. However, such a standard, privacy-preserving, verifiable voting model remains elusive. This ‎work seeks to fill this void with the use of a blockchain e-voting system that uses QR codes to ‎validate voters, cryptographically ensures integrity with the EFFT-SWIFFT hash, and also handles ‎ballots through smart contracts. A feature matrix together with a visual chart was used in a systematic ‎literature review of 28 peer-reviewed papers to analyze and compare authentication methods, ‎transparency techniques, consensus mechanisms, and scalability solutions. Though the analysis reveals ‎that entities greatly underutilize advanced cryptographic primitives such as zero-knowledge proofs and ‎post-quantum hashing, these primitives potentially improve privacy and also verifiability. Present in the ‎proposed model is a multi-layered architecture. Also, the model can offer a secure as well as ‎transparent solution for addressing these gaps. Blockchain-based e-voting can increase trust, reduce ‎fraud, and broaden democratic participation, but it requires real-world validation through pilot projects ‎and usability testing‎.