Design and Threat Modeling of a Permissioned Blockchain Voting System for Resource-Constrained Democracies: A Case Study of Nigeria

Abstract

This paper presents the design and threat modeling of a permissioned blockchain voting system tailored for resource-constrained democracies, using Nigeria as a case study. We propose a hybrid on-chain/off-chain architecture based on Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus to ensure energy efficiency, scalability, and civic accountability in low-connectivity environments that stores vote hashes, vote timestamps, and validator signatures on-chain while keeping biometric metadata and device logs off-chain using decentralized storage to reduce bandwidth. The framework integrates Nigeria's National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) biometric database for cryptographic voter verification and employs smart contracts to automate vote validation. A STRIDE (Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information disclosure, Denial of service, and Elevation of privilege)-based threat model is applied to identify risks such as spoofing, tampering, and denial-of-service attacks, repudiation, information disclosure, and elevation of privilege in politically volatile contexts. Unlike existing blockchain voting models developed for high-capacity states, this system is context-aware, designed for 40% internet penetration, infrastructural instability, and institutional distrust. The study adopts Design Science Research (DSR) methodology to build, demonstrate, and evaluate the artifact. We validate the system's feasibility by simulating network degradation and threat scenario injection on a Hyperledger Fabric testnet. Using Design Science Research (DSR), we built a Hyperledger Fabric testnet with 10 validator nodes and simulated 500 votes under 10–80% connectivity. Findings show that a locally governed, hybrid blockchain model can enhance electoral integrity while remaining feasible in developing democracies. This work contributes to the digital democracy discourse by introducing a context-aware, legally grounded blockchain voting model for low-connectivity democracies.