Blockchain Voting: The Future of Elections 

“Democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people” according to Abraham Lincoln. This definition of democracy seems in tandem with the philosophy behind blockchain.

Blockchain’s major idea is decentralization, this ensures that everyone has a stake and control over their activities and is not controlled by a central party. Having seen the revolutionary tendency of blockchain in several industries, it’s cool to see how it can be adopted in the Electioneering process.

Importance of a secure voting system

Ensuring the integrity and legitimacy of any election process is crucial, and a secure voting system accomplishes this.

For progress to be made in a country, it is very important that voters’ vote counts. This is the only way for democracy to prevail. A secure voting system will also ensure there will be improved participation in the electioneering process as citizens are confident their choice will be reflected in the final outcome.

The importance of secure voting systems cannot be overstated. A secured voting system will ensure that the collation process where most fraud or manipulation takes place can be trusted. Once this can be sorted, public servants will work more for the people as they can’t manipulate results. This will ensure that people enjoy the dividend of democracy.

To ensure the accuracy and integrity of election results, a secure voting system needs to have critical features. These features consist of encrypting all voting data, implementing strong authentication protocols to prevent unauthorized access, and creating a paper trail for audits and recounts if needed. Such measures help prevent tampering and provide voters with confidence that the election results are trustworthy.

A secure voting system not only ensures the accuracy of the election results but also protects the privacy of individual voters. Keeping voting data encrypted and confidential, it prevents anyone from identifying who voted for whom. This helps to safeguard voters from potential harassment or retaliation based on their political views and beliefs.

Overall, a secure voting system is indispensable in maintaining the integrity and legitimacy of the democratic process. It guarantees that every vote counts and the election outcome genuinely reflects the will of the people. Investing in secure voting systems is critical in safeguarding the future of democracy and ensuring that everyone’s voices are heard.

Advantages of Blockchain voting over traditional voting

Compared to traditional voting systems, Blockchain voting has several advantages. Here are some of them:

Security: Blockchain technology is highly secure and tamper-proof, making it nearly impossible to manipulate or alter votes. Each vote is stored as a block, and once it’s added to the blockchain, it can’t be modified or deleted.

Transparency: Blockchain voting provides complete transparency, allowing voters to verify their votes and ensure that they have been accurately counted. Additionally, the entire voting process is transparent, and anyone can view the results.

Efficiency: Blockchain voting is highly efficient as it eliminates the need for paper ballots, reduces the cost of counting and verifying votes, and accelerates the voting process.

Accessibility: Blockchain voting is accessible to anyone with an internet connection, which makes it easier for people to participate in the democratic process, particularly those who are unable to travel to polling stations.

Accuracy: Blockchain voting guarantees accurate and reliable results, as the technology eliminates the possibility of errors or fraud.

Blockchain voting provides a secure, transparent, efficient, accessible, and accurate voting process that can help ensure the integrity and legitimacy of elections.

Countries that have tried Blockchain voting

Sierra-Leone

On March 7, 2018,  Sierra Leone became the first country to conduct a Blockchain-based voting system. Agora’s Leonardo Gammar stored votes in an immutable distributed ledger, which offered instant access to the election results. Gammar had previously stated that Agora’s blockchain was recording anonymized votes/ballots and that the results would be publicly available for anyone to review, count, and validate.

Russia

In June 2019, the authorities of Moscow planned and launched a pilot project for a blockchain-based electronic voting system. The Moscow City Election Commission and the Moscow Department of Information Technology (DIT) partnered to carry out the project, with the DIT providing the necessary support for testing. The Moscow Department of IT operates in the IT sector and adheres to the policies of the City of Moscow, ensuring cross-industry coordination with other executive authorities of the city.

What are the reasons against a Blockchain-Based Voting System?

Some individuals in the niche oppose the implementation of blockchain technology for voting, especially on a national level. They argue that non-technical people are making suggestions and demands based on the success of blockchain in financial sectors, cryptocurrencies, and digital banks, without evaluating or mitigating potential issues in bringing entire voting systems onto blockchain technology.

The current use cases for blockchain in voting are robust and fault-tolerant, but not to the same extent as in other industries. If a vote is lost or altered, there is no way to identify who did it or how to recover the loss. Cybersecurity concerns also exist since these systems are decentralized and anonymous. Although attacks on blockchain-based voting have not yet occurred, they could be scalable and undetectable. Despite these concerns, the industry must strive to make blockchain-based voting more acceptable and robust to address all concerns.

Conclusion

Without an iota of doubt, Blockchain voting is the future of voting and will surely revolutionize the voting process as it has done in various industries all over the world.

Its decentralized and secure nature can significantly improve transparency, accountability, and accessibility in the voting process. We have to agree that there are still some challenges that need to be sorted such as scalability, usability, and ensuring the anonymity of voters before we can see a large-scale blockchain voting

These challenges are normal and can be overcome as it is used more, in situations where humans decide to tamper with the technology, it’s easy to trace and can serve as evidence in the case of a court case. With advancements in technology,  we will likely see how blockchain voting evolves and how it can be applied to various democratic processes around the world.