The implementation of blockchain technology in voting and election systems will be a giant step towards building a completely fair and transparent system capable of providing security and privacy at the time of voting throughout society.
In recent years the level of use and implementation of technology blockchain In various sectors of society it is gaining greater strength. Now this technology is not seen only to keep records of data in value exchange systems such as cryptocurrencies, , but its potential goes far beyond the financial ecosystem.
Blockchain is a technology in development with a lot of potential yet to be discovered and implemented, but thanks to its well-known properties for the immutable recording of any type of data and information, it has begun to be used in one of the most important areas of society: voting.
To date, several countries have already implemented this technology to create transparent voting systems, while others have announced their future plans to include blockchain during their electoral processes.
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Blockchain technology implementations for voting systems
Russia recently announced the launch of its platform Exonum, based on blockchain technology and intended to encrypt the vote of citizens exercising their right in the country's main cities such as Moscow and Nizhniy. The goal with Exonum is that the State can ensure secure, transparent and immutable data during the elections for constitutional amendments in this country. However, it seems that Exonum presented some problems at the time of its implementation, which we will mention later.
Likewise, the South Korean government announced that it will use blockchain technology to establish an online voting system combined with a digital identity service (DID) also based on blockchain. With this implementation South Korea seeks to establish a secure and transparent voting system resistant to manipulation to deliver real results during their 2022 elections.
In the same way, the Bolivian Chamber of Commerce also announced that it implemented blockchain technology to establish a voting system during the elections for its new board of directors, which took place on June 25.
But what is blockchain technology and what is its potential in these systems?
Blockchain is a decentralized distributed network which allows the creation of an accounting book where all the information handled within the network is recorded. This recording of data and information also occurs in a decentralized manner without the need for a server or a central database, and the updating of all data and information is done in consensus with all the parties that make up the distributed network.
In this way, since there are hundreds or thousands of nodes distributed globally that contain the same information, no actor or entity can modify or alter said data; hence the extreme security that this technology provides.
To provide a clearer view on how blockchain operates, we can cite an example outlined in our Bit2Me Academy, what does it say:
Imagine a text file with two columns, where in one column there is an identifier (for example, “abc”) and in the other column a number (for example, “34”). In other words, “abc” corresponds to “34”. Now imagine that this file could be duplicated on thousands of computers, with the assurance that no one can alter it; but when something legitimately needs to be changed, in a matter of seconds, all the computers synchronize to update the information.
This example shows us that blockchain, although it is a little more complex than what is reflected in the example, is a robust and secure technology that distributes the same information to hundreds and thousands of nodes in a decentralized and secure way, and once the information is recorded by these nodes it cannot be altered or modified.
Therefore, blockchain plays a fundamental and important role in election and voting systems, capable of providing security, privacy and confidence to voters in each process.
Exonum, Russia's blockchain voting system for constitutional amendments
Voting in Russia to approve constitutional amendments takes place from June 25 to July 1. During these elections, Russian citizens can exercise their right to vote through traditional polling stations or they can choose to cast their ballot from home through an online voting system called Exonum.
Exonum Exonum is a blockchain-based voting system that allows citizens of Moscow and Nizhniy to cast their votes through any device with an internet connection, and that promises to guarantee a fair, secure and transparent process. The developers of this voting system indicate that thanks to blockchain, each electronically issued ballot has a unique number that is stored and encrypted in order to guarantee maximum security during the process. Likewise, the developers indicated that Exonum does not have a single server, but rather implements a group of participants to avoid a single point of attack and to guarantee that the approval of the voting process occurs in consensus with the approval of the majority of participants.
However, the implementation of this voting system presented some flaws from the start. First, Exonum remained inaccessible during the first hours of its launch. Later, local media reported that the system was not available. reported that some electronic voting tables presented abnormal results, reflecting a greater number of votes than the number of voters corresponding to those tables. In reference to this, the company that develops the system, Bitfury, has not made any statement on the matter.
South Korea and Bolivia have plans to implement blockchain in their upcoming elections
South Korea's Ministry of Science and Technology announced an initiative that aims to implement the development of blockchain technology to establish a secure and reliable electronic voting system. The Ministry also noted that they would use a digital identification system that will guarantee the privacy and security of users' data as well as the vote they cast during elections. It is estimated that this system will be implemented in the presidential elections that will take place in 2022.
Likewise, in Bolivia, the Chamber of Commerce of this country indicated that they would use blockchain in their new internal election system, in order to allow their members to cast their vote and participate in the election processes without having to travel anywhere.
Although blockchain has shown great potential in various fields, many specialists consider that the technology is too young to be used in voting systems, or at least until other tools are implemented that guarantee equivalence between the physical and digital identity of each voter.
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