First, you have to go to the main Helios page and click the election you are supposed to be voting in. You can access any election, even ones you aren't eligible to vote in. But you can only cast the ballot if you are eligible. Eligibility is based on your class year.
Click "Vote in this election" to enter the voting booth
Can't Read?
Step 2: Making Choices
Select the candidates
Once you've entered the voting booth, it's time to get to work. Make your selections. If you want to change a selection, you first have to deselect (click again) the choice you already made before selecting a new choice. Click "Next" to proceed through the questions until you reach the last question where it will be a "Review Choices" button instead. Click that one. On the next page, you'll get the opportunity to see the choices you made once again. You can go back and change anything at this time.
Executive Summary
Click "Start" to continue
Review the first question and make your choice
Click "Next" to proceed through the questions
On the last question, click "Review all Choices"
You can change your choices by clicking the "update" link next to any question
Like Flashy/Shiny Things?
Step 3: Casting Your Ballot
Digitally "fold" your ballot and drop it in the ballot box
This part is why Helios is so cool -- encryption. From the page where you review all of your choices, click the "Confirm Choices and Encrypt Ballot" to start encrypting. The encryption process could take a while -- up to a minute, actually. So grab a snack or check your email. Okay, back now? Once everything is encrypted, you'll get a tracking number. This is the most important feature of Helios! Store that tracking number somehow so that you can easily find it again later. Email it to yourself, save it in a file, print it out (if you're a tree-hater), write it on your hand, commit it to memory, etc.
Now click "Proceed to Login" to authenticate. If you aren't already logged in (by logging into another Princeton site within a few minutes of voting), you'll have to log in using your NetID and password. Once you're authenticated, Helios checks to make sure that you are eligible to vote by checking your class year. If you are eligible, it will bring you to a page that displays your tracking number once again and gives the option "cast this ballot." You know what you've got to do now -- click the button! Once you click the button, wait until the confirmation page comes up. DON'T close the window immediately after clicking the button! Once you see the confirmation page, you're done!
Précis
Click "Confirm Choices and Encrypt Ballot"
Wait for ballot to be encrypted (it may take a minute or so; if warning message pops up, click "Continue")
Record you tracking number (email it to yourself, save it, print it, write it on your hand, etc.)
Click "Proceed to Login"
Click "Login" if not already logged in, and then enter your NetID and password
Click "cast this ballot"
Pat yourself on the back
Don't fret! Check out the video!
Step 4: Tracking Your Ballot
Go to Helios and find your ballot
The ability to track your ballot is one of the most important functions Helios gives you as a voter. At any time, during or after the election, you can track your ballot. Find your ballot tracking number (if it didn't wash off your hand). Then go back to the initial page for the election you want to track your vote in. Click on the "Audit Info" link in the yellow/beige rectangle. Then click "Ballot Tracking Center." The page will now show a list of all cast ballots. Use the "Find" function of your browser to find your NetID on the page -- it's usually Control-F on PC or Command-F on macs. Next to your NetID, confirm that the tracking number you see there is the one you recorded. Congratulations! You've tracked your ballot!
Synopsis
Retrieve your tracking number from your records
Go to the ballot page again Go the the main Helios page and then click the election
Click "Audit Info" in the yellow rectangle
Click "Ballot Tracking Center"
Find your NetID in the list
Confirm that the tracking number displayed matches your records
Campaigning for the class of 2013 election has begun. Candidates are putting up posters all around campus vying for your vote. Here are the candidates:
You can cast multiple votes -- only the last one counts
If you change your mind or think you may have made a mistake on your first ballot, you can overwrite the old one at any time until the election closes.
Use your tracking number to make sure that your vote counted
There's no need to worry whether you successfully voted or if your vote got lost; use the tracking number associated with your ballot to check that your ballot is still in the system -- and unchanged -- at any time. Even after the election closes. If the tracking number in the system matches yours, you're all set!
You don't have to log in until after you've made your ballot choices
For your security, Helios doesn't have to know who you are while you are making your ballot. Only once your ballot is encrypted and nobody can see who you voted for do you identify yourself.
What makes Helios different?
From the lab, not the boardroom
Helios is different by birth -- the idea was hatched by Dr. Ben Adida, a Ph.D. from MIT who now researches at Harvard. Helios has been presented to and vetted by the world's greatest minds in computer security.
Security unlike what we've ever had before
Before we used Helios, we used a system that was originally designed as a survey engine. Privacy and security wasn't a chief concern in that system. But Helios was built to demonstrate Dr. Adida's theories on secure elections, so from the very beginning Helios was all about security.
It's part of something bigger
Helios is just one part of the USG election redesign process -- Helios is the voting and tallying part. Once Helios is in place, we are going to concentrate on Luna, the election management system where candidates can register themselves. And the elections protocol document for elections administrators is under development, too.
