With the elections in the United States and the endless waiting for a final result, the opportunity to use blockchain voting has returned to the forefront.
In these hours, in fact, the USA is waiting with bated breath for the outcome of the elections. Joe Biden would seem to be one step away from victory, but Donald Trump, outgoing president and in search of a second term, seems ready to challenge the result. Already last night, when the stripping was still far from providing a result, he declared:
“They’re stealing our vote.
He had also announced an appeal to the Supreme Court. Then he asked to stop the counting in Michigan. In short, there are fears of fraud, and the outcome of the vote risks opening up the spectre of appeals.
How to avoid all this? With the blockchain.
Binance Changpeng CZ Zhao’s CEO suggests using a blockchain-based voting app that can protect privacy using an encryption mechanism.
“So we shouldn’t have to wait for the results, or have doubts about their validity”.
That’s why CZ proposes to develop something right away, get it approved (the most difficult step), and get 300 million voters to use it with the KYC procedure. And he adds:
“Every competent developer should want to do it for free.
This provocation was followed by a response from Charles Hoskinson, CEO of IOHK.
“We build these things for a living”.
Vote on blockchain, an open debate
In fact, the voting debate on blockchain has been open for some time. So much so that below the CZ tweet there are at least two app suggestions designed to make electronic voting possible, certified on blockchain.
This year, in view of a difficult electoral round marked by the Coronavirus, it was suggested to make it possible to vote electronically, on blockchain. But the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was against this system. The association had expressed strong doubts, above all because of the risk of cyber attacks, with the consequent possible manipulation of the vote. The problem of being able to guarantee complete anonymity to the vote remained to be solved.
Finally, not everyone has a mobile phone or is able to use it to complete the procedures necessary to vote.
The experts recommended postal voting or early voting in order to avoid crowding in the polling stations. It has to be said that what is making the counting of votes in the United States even more complicated is the postal vote.
Daniel Larimer’s patent
Daniel Larimer, cofounder of EOS and block.one, had already presented his patent for voting on blockchain in August. The system is based on a series of servers that record people’s identities and then allow them to vote while ensuring that they remain anonymous.
Needless to say, it has not been used, at least not this time. Who knows, post-election polemics convince decision-makers that electronic voting can no longer be postponed.