Back in the early 1990s, many people thought of the internet as only a cesspool for the underworld, pornography and illegal drugs. At best, these detractors would claim, it is only good for email access, and that should only be used in select cases.
Today we see how the internet means a lot more than that dim and distorted view, as it has literally changed our world.
Now we have a technology that is strong and growing called blockchain. It is largely known for its use with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum, the newly-created bitcoin cash, and others. To ignore this technology would be comparable to embracing a distorted and incorrect view of the internet in the early 1990’s.
Blockchain to facilitate voting
Blockchain has many potential uses, and one of these is facilitating voting. We can create a blockchain that tallies votes cast, treating them as transactions. This way, everyone can agree on the final count because they can count the votes themselves. Because of the blockchain audit trail, they can verify that no votes were changed or removed, and no illegitimate votes were added.
When the issue of voter fraud is brought up, we see typically predictable opinions and the followers on each side of the issue fall into their traditional arguments. Progressives and liberals tend to talk of voter repression and coercion that has been used at the polls to prohibit minorities and other segments of the population from voting. Conservatives tend to accentuate the cases of known fraud and potential fraud.
Both sides have strong points and can back up their concerns with historical data citing cases where their worst fears were realized. Reasonable people can agree that in the case of voting, we want to 1) give access to all legally eligible people regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation, and 2) prohibit fraud and illegal voting practices such as multiple votes or deceased people voting.
Blockchain technology solves both of these with ease and and a great savings of taxpayer money. It can also increase the possibility of greater voter participation. Organizations like Follow My Vote are demonstrating the effectiveness of using this technology today by using blockchain technology.
