{"id":513469,"date":"2022-11-21T17:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T14:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box\/"},"modified":"2022-11-21T17:01:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T14:01:00","slug":"election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box\/","title":{"rendered":"# Election tally: Does blockchain beat the ballot box?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2695970cbfa\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2695970cbfa\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box\/#%E2%80%9D_Election_tally_Does_blockchain_beat_the_ballot_box_%E2%80%9C\" >&#8221; Election tally: Does blockchain beat the ballot box?  &#8220;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box\/#Ensuring_trust_is_critical\" >Ensuring trust is critical<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box\/#Permissioned_or_public_chains\" >Permissioned or public chains?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box\/#Technical_limitations\" >Technical limitations?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box\/#Usability_is_critical\" >Usability is critical\u00a0<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9D_Election_tally_Does_blockchain_beat_the_ballot_box_%E2%80%9C\"><\/span>&#8221; Election tally: Does blockchain beat the ballot box?  &#8220;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.cointelegraph.com\/images\/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjItMTEvZGEwNjNiMWItY2UyNS00ODhmLTk0OTItZjM2MDc1ZmJiMDY1LmpwZw==.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content\" data-v-887bb764>In October, Greenland was reported to be exploring the feasibility of an online voting platform for its national elections. Among the options being considered is a blockchain-based system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That isn\u2019t entirely surprising. Electronic voting, or e-voting, has long been viewed as a promising use case for blockchain <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s time for online voting,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/11\/05\/opinion\/online-blockchain-voting.html\">wrote<\/a> Alex Tapscott in a New York Times opinion piece in 2018. \u201cUsing blockchain technology, online voting could boost voter participation and help restore the public\u2019s trust in the electoral process and democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It seems especially timely now as large swaths of the world\u2019s population are raising questions about election integrity \u2014 most notably in the United States, but in other countries as well, such as Brazil. <\/p>\n<p>Tim Goggin, CEO at Horizon State, for one, believes that blockchain-enabled elections represent a \u201csignificant improvement\u201d over the way most elections are operated today. Voting machines break down, software fails and election irregularities often create uncertainty and doubt among the voting public. <\/p>\n<p>With a public blockchain, by comparison, \u201cit is much easier for voters to trace their vote,\u201d Goggin told Cointelegraph, \u201cand audit an election themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Moreover, if something untoward does occur in the voting process, it is easier to identify it on a decentralized ledger with thousands of nodes than on current tabulation systems \u201cwhere counting is done behind closed doors,\u201d says Goggin, whose company set up a public election for South Australia in 2019, the first time blockchain technology was used in the voting process for that Australian state.<\/p>\n<p>Still, blockchain technology\u2019s potential vis-a-vis public elections has been highlighted off and on for some time now. No country has yet to use blockchain technology in a national election. <\/p>\n<p>Marta Piekarska, senior DAO strategist at ConsenSys, recalls working at Hyperledger in 2016, where blockchain voting was discussed as a promising use case. \u201cSix years later, and we are still talking about this,\u201d she told Cointelegraph. \u201cWe are still quite far from a situation where any kind of distributed ledger would be considered\u201d \u2014 at least in a national election.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A few countries, notably Estonia, have been experimenting with systems that allow people to vote online, she further explained. On the other hand, \u201cNetherlands abandoned the idea of doing electronic voting due to some of the concerns around security and authenticity of the votes.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Then, there\u2019s sparsely populated Greenland, where the vast distances make it difficult for people to vote in person. A group of researchers from Concordium Blockchain, Aarhus University, the Alexandra Institute and the IT University will soon be investigating \u201cwhether a blockchain-based system will be a more trustworthy e-election on the world\u2019s largest island,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/greenland-together-with-top-universities-and-concordium-blockchain-is-investigating-the-possibilities-of-a-blockchain-based-election-system-in-the-country-301651707.html\">according<\/a> to the Concordium press release.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ensuring_trust_is_critical\"><\/span>Ensuring trust is critical<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Any voting system requires trust, and trust requires a number of properties \u2014 any one of which can be a challenge depending on the circumstances, K\u00e5re Kjelstr\u00f8m, chief technology officer at Concordium, told Cointelegraph. For in-person voting, these include: whitelisting: ensuring only eligible voters take part; identification: voters need to prove their identity when casting a vote; anonymity: votes are cast in private and can\u2019t be traced back to the voter; security: locations are secured by the government; and immutability: cast votes can\u2019t be altered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny digital system that replaces a manual voting system needs to address at least those same issues to ensure trust and this has proven to be rather tricky to pull off,\u201d Kjelstr\u00f8m explained. \u201cBut blockchain may prove to be part of a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A public decentralized blockchain ensures immutability by default, after all, \u201cin that any transaction written can never be deleted.\u201d The system is secured by cryptography and \u201ctransactions are anonymous, but are open for inspection by anyone in the world,\u201d said Kjelstr\u00f8m, adding: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe trick is to maintain privacy and anonymity while ensuring any eligible voter can only cast their vote once. [\u2026] This is a current research topic at top institutions.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Permissioned_or_public_chains\"><\/span>Permissioned or public chains?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThe main problems I see for public elections as opposed to say corporate governance is that there cannot be a permissionless [blockchain] system because voter information is private and we cannot trust all third parties,\u201d Amrita Dhillon, professor of economics in the department of political economy at King\u2019s College London, told Cointelegraph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe second problem is that of inputting the vote at a location of the voters choice: We cannot prevent anyone coercing voters at the point at which they submit the e-vote,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Recent:\u00a0Is DOGE really worth the hype even after Musk\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> buyout?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Others say permissioned chains aren\u2019t the answer because they are run by a single entity or a group of entities that exert complete control of the system. \u201cWorst case this means that a private blockchain can be tampered with by those self-same guardians and elections rigged,\u201d said Kjelstr\u00f8m. This isn\u2019t much of a problem in Western countries, \u201cbut in large parts of the world this is not true.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, if one can \u201cweave self-sovereign identity (SSI) into the core protocol,\u201d as Concordium, a layer-1 public blockchain, aspires to do, that \u201cmay be just the right technology to power public elections,\u201d said Kjelstr\u00f8m.<\/p>\n<p>That said, Goggin noted that many governments will probably opt to use private blockchains in line with their own privacy\/data laws, and there are many ways to set up permissioned blockchains. But, if they don\u2019t at least offer the public an auditable trace of voting records, then they aren\u2019t likely to boost the public\u2019s belief in election integrity. He calls himself \u201ca big fan\u201d of public and distributed blockchains. <\/p>\n<p>The privacy question is especially knotty when it comes to public elections. \u201cYou should not be able to tell which candidate some individual voted for, or even if they voted at all,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/vitalik.ca\/general\/2021\/05\/25\/voting2.html\">wrote<\/a> Vitalik Buterin in a blog titled \u201cBlockchain voting is overrated among uninformed people but underrated among informed people.\u201d On the other hand, you want to ensure \u2014 and if necessary prove \u2014 that only eligible voters have voted, so some information like addresses and citizen status may need to be collected. Buterin viewed encryption as a way to get around the privacy conundrum. <\/p>\n<p>Goggin suggests something similar. Horizon State might ask a client to \u201chash,\u201d i.e., encrypt or scramble, eligible voter identities \u201cbefore we are provided them, and we then hash those identities again.\u201d This means that neither the client nor Horizon State can readily determine who voted or how they voted. He added: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cVoters will be able to see their vote on the chain, but there is no way for voters to prove that it is their vote, given they can see other votes on the blockchain also.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Dhillon, for her part, proposes a compromise where \u201csome parts of the process are centralized,\u201d i.e., voters come to a booth where their identity is checked and they submit their vote, \u201cbut subsequent parts of the chain can be decentralized to make them more secure and tamper proof.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Technical_limitations\"><\/span>Technical limitations?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In 2014, the city of Moscow\u2019s Active Citizen e-voting platform was created to let Muscovites have a say in non-political municipal decisions, and in 2017 it used the Ethereum blockchain for a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of polls. The largest of these t<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ed 220,000 citizens and the voting results were publicly auditable. It revealed some scaling limitations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe platform based on proof-of-work reached a peak of approximately 1,000 transactions per minute [16.7 transactions per second]. This meant that it would not be easy for the platform to handle the volume if a higher proportion of Moscow\u2019s 12 million citizens participated in the voting,\u201d according to Nir Kshetri, a professor at the Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. From this, Kshetri and others concluded that this PoW version of the Ethereum blockchain \u201cwas not sufficient to handle national elections.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Things might be different in 2023, however, when Ethereum 2.0 implements sharding. This could boost the chain\u2019s speed to as high as 100,000 TPS, which in turn \u201cincreases Ethereum blockchain\u2019s attractiveness for voting,\u201d he told Cointelegraph. <\/p>\n<p>But blockchains probably still need to be more secure before they are ready for public elections, though this is manageable in Kshetri\u2019s view. \u201cBlockchains are likely to become more secure with increasing maturity.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Buterin, too, said in 2021 that security was still an issue vis-a-vis elections. For that reason, \u201cin the short term, any form of blockchain voting should certainly remain confined to small experiments. [\u2026] Security is at present definitely not good enough to rely on computers for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Online transactions, unlike manual systems, \u201ccan occur in the blink of an eye,\u201d added Kjelstr\u00f8m, and software-driven attacks on an e-voting system can \u201cpotentially foil or damage the system or the vote.\u201d Therefore, \u201cany new system would have to be introduced slowly to ensure the voting system remains intact and fully functional.\u201d Governments might begin at a small scale and conduct proof-of-concepts for select non-critical elections first, he said. <\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Usability_is_critical\"><\/span>Usability is critical\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Technology isn\u2019t the only obstacle that needs to be solved before blockchain voting attains wide adoption. There are political and social challenges, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe technology is there,\u201d said Piekarska. \u201cWe can do it right now. I mean, decentralized autonomous organizations are governed through online voting now, and they are managing trillions of dollars.\u201d But national elections are a different beast, she suggested, because:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOn the government level, your problem is: how do you create a system that is usable by citizens?\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>One\u2019s constituency is not tech-savvy members of a DAO, \u201cbut people like my mom, who is still struggling with online banking,\u201d Piekarska added.<\/p>\n<p>How long will it be, then, before the first national election with blockchain voting? \u201cHopefully not decades, but surely we\u2019re not there yet,\u201d said Kjelstr\u00f8m.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt could be tomorrow or it could be in 50 or 60 years,\u201d opined Piekarska, \u201cbecause there are so many things that need to align.\u201d In Europe, most people trust their governments and the quality of voting is not really an issue, so the push for encrypted auditable ledgers may not be so urgent. In nations with weaker governance where elections are often manipulated, conversely, why would the powers-that-be ever consent to tamper-free blockchain voting? <\/p>\n<p>Greenland, which struggles with participation in its <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> elections primarily because of the great distances that its citizens must <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> to vote, might prove an exception.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, some solid governments want to do the right thing but they struggle with the accessibility of in-person voting,\u201d Piekarska acknowledged. \u201cThat\u2019s probably where we might see the first movers because there is a very high incentive for them to do it. But these are unique situations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Recent:\u00a0Proof-of-reserves: Can reserve audits avoid another FTX-like moment?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All in all, it\u2019s critical that people have trust in their voting system, whether manual, electronic or blockchain-based, and building trust can take time. But, as more people become used to accessing public services online, electronic voting should take greater hold in different parts of the world, and once that happens, blockchain voting could catch on, given its well-documented advantages, allowing individuals to audit their own votes. <\/p>\n<p>Large-scale blockchain-enabled national elections are probably some years away still. Even so, Goggin has been engaging in discussions recently \u201cabout providing elections at that scale,\u201d adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWhile it isn\u2019t the norm yet, governments are beginning to consider the value that online blockchain voting systems can offer in efficiency, accessibility, speed, security and transparency.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><template data-name=\"subscription_form\" data-type=\"law_decoded\"><\/template><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/election-tally-does-blockchain-beat-the-ballot-box\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8221; Election tally: Does blockchain beat the ballot box? &#8220; In October, Greenland was reported to be exploring the feasibility of an online voting platform for its national elections. Among the options being considered is a blockchain-based system.\u00a0 That isn\u2019t entirely surprising. Electronic voting, or e-voting, has long been viewed as a promising use case&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":513470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.cointelegraph.com\/images\/1200_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjItMTEvZGEwNjNiMWItY2UyNS00ODhmLTk0OTItZjM2MDc1ZmJiMDY1LmpwZw==.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[74894,75269,74355,70288,71511,55229,32681,4975,67874,70473],"class_list":["post-513469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-blockchain","tag-us-government","tag-adoption","tag-elections","tag-government","tag-law","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-united-states","tag-voting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}