Voting security has been one of the strengths of the last election.
The blockchain has certain advantages that could be exploited to set up a secure voting solution.
Some industry experts question the effectiveness of Immediate Bitcoin voting.
BeInCrypto takes a look at the validity of blockchain voting and whether this is the solution for a fair system
Democratic elections are a serious and crucial event for a country. Through the vote, citizens have the power to influence the quality of life they desire for themselves and future generations, with the election becoming a turning point on the path to the protection and enjoyment of human rights. man, and the improvement of the well-being of society.
With the most common way to conduct an election being the paper system, the world has witnessed several electoral frauds , where corrupt politicians use illegal and covert methods to manipulate election results. Such frauds threaten democratic stability and encourage opponents to discredit the election results , which wastes the country’s resources.
A record number of voters voted earlier in November, in the presidential election in the United States, in person or by mail. Since each state in the United States has different rules for postal voting, the process has become chaotic. There were also gaps in disputes and significant delays as votes by mail take time to process.
In the United States, 32 states allow some form of online voting by e-mail, for a small portion of voters. In the previous election of 2016, more than 100,000 votes were cast online, the data shows , although the actual tally may be higher.
Current US President Donald Trump has encouraged in-person voting, saying it is “secure,” as opposed to postal voting, which could be easily tampered with. The 2020 US presidential election has intensified beliefs about the drawbacks of mail-in ballots. Trump also posted tweeting about the inaccuracy of the results, which were partly obscured by Twitter.
It is therefore time to look at alternative technologies that can facilitate the voting process. For a long time, there has been a misconception that a secure way to vote online does not exist. With the advent of blockchain technology, these discussions have started to resurface again. But is blockchain a solution?
Digital voting uses electronic devices like a voting machine – electronic voting – or a computer via an Internet browser – i-vote – to vote. However, before implementing a digital voting system for large-scale elections, security is an important criterion that must be taken into account. With monumental decisions at stake, there shouldn’t be the slightest doubt about the ability of the voting system to defend data against potential attacks.
Blockchain-based voting systems as a solution
Although a large-scale blockchain-based system has not yet been implemented for voting, there are several proposals for the same. A section recent titled „Voting on a distributed registry: an interdisciplinary perspective“ written by a group of British university suggests a high level of design for a voting system based on blockchain. The design recommends that a voter could initially log into a blockchain node and use it to submit their vote which would function as a blockchain transaction.
This vote could then be transmitted to the node network to be part of the unconfirmed transaction vote pool. Each new block will include a set of voting transactions and will be sent to each node in the network. Due to the presence of multiple node networks on a blockchain, multiple interfaces can connect to the same blockchain, allowing users to access them using their own devices.
Startups like Voatz claim to have made voting easier through the use of blockchain technology. Users can download a dedicated app, verify their government identity, scan their fingerprint or use facial recognition, and can vote. Once the vote has been cast, it may also be accompanied by a hard copy.
The startup stressed that if all citizens had an accessible method of remote voting, such as mobile voting, it would ensure fairer and more equitable elections. According to Voatz’s analysis, if voters with disabilities voted at the same rate as other citizens, there would be 2.35 million more voters, and once barriers are lifted, the turnout of military and foreign voters deployed would increase to 37.5 percent from the current rate of 7 percent.
A similar platform was developed and introduced by blockchain start-up Votem in 2017. After registering for the voting app, users are linked to a list of verification documents to verify their identity. When votes are cast, the node counts the vote instantly.