Blockchain voting: Why isn't this already a thing?

Tomorrow is the most important day in politics, in Finland, kind of. It is the election of the new President. The President is the head of state but, it is the Prime Minister who is the practical head. Since I am foreign, I am unable to vote anyway.

My wife however has been around politics in some way or another for almost two decades (I know, I know 'Anarchy!' and all that) and is interested in these things. Even though she is now a full-time student again, tomorrow she volunteered to be a vote counter at one of the polling stations.

Finland is one of the least politically corrupt countries in the world which is kind of like ranking the goodness of serial killers by how few people they killed. Overall however, the voting process is safe but also very expensive to organise. Less so than places like the US however where people are what many outside of the US would consider, 'politically insane'.

I don't mean who they vote for although that is often questionable, I mean the entire voting process where access to polling stations by location, day and service numbers is so easy to game. I mean, come on, this is the age of smartphones and blockchains yet it seems that we are still living in the relative voting dark ages.

If there is a major conspiracy around elections worth investigating, the snail-paced crawl of voting technology and ease of manipulation is it. Seriously, busloads of voters being driven around to various booths and in some places 4 hour waits while in others it is 15 minutes?

The Steem chain (or a version of) could quite easily handle all of the transactions and be able to have all data immediately accessible without anyone needing to leave their home. Sure, there are limitations currently on much older generations but for most between the ages of 18 and 70, a simple app would be enough to cover an entire country's voting process. There are numerous ways to implement this of course.

Sure, 'Down with the governments!' but currently, this is the system we operate within so cleaning it up and making it more accessible to those who have stake (everyone) should be high on the agenda...Shouldn't it?

In the 2016 US elections 138 million people voted, that is 58% of those eligible, so, who didn't? Well, some people don't vote for many reasons but would you stand out in the cold and wet for hours on a Tuesday (Seriously Tuesday still?) while you should be working at one of your two or three jobs? It shouldn't be so difficult, we have online banking after all, we should be able to work this mess out.

Now, the problem with low voter turnout which is skewed by access to polling stations and a host of other factors is that , it isn't representative at all. It means that 42 percent of people with stake, didn't use it and those 42 percent often lay largely in certain communities.

In Finland, the turn out is around 70 percent which in my opinion is still too low. In a country that has one of the highest educated populations in the world, it is still the lowest educated who are underrepresented. Some might think this is a good thing that they do not have a say but, in time, they can become an uneducated, disenfranchised force that want to burn it all without the sensitivity for which parts to keep. That is another post perhaps though.

Australia has compulsory voting but, it is still cumbersome and unwieldy to use and expensive to operate and police. Just think about all of the security required at the various voting booths around the world, especially in countries in turmoil where it is possible to threaten voters at the stations or encourage them to stay home altogether.

Perhaps, all voters should be able to vote from the comfort of their home and it need not even be on the day, just like a post here, there could be a voting window and once the post closes, the election is decided. We already do this here.

Maybe there could be portals for each candidate where a candidate can represent themselves, specialists can verify the information and give opinions, and the public can also have their say if they choose. And, candidates information is all immutable on the blockchain as are those who are looking to influence the outcomes in some way.

Wouldn't it be interesting if only funds that have been logged onto the blockchain are usable for campaigning? Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a set amount of personal data that must be presented and logged onto the chain if running for president of a country?

There are too many grey areas to hide in places where there need not be, there are too many opportunities to game the system and manipulate a population when there are solutions now available that will immediately stop this or prevent future issues.

Corruption at government levels is the worst kind as they are meant to be working in the best interest of the people. They are public servants. Sure, not everyone is going to agree with how everything is handled but the arguments shouldn't be hijacked by irrelevancies and smoke and mirrors. There should be a higher level of transparency and immutability of information over long periods of time.

If there ever was a use case for blockchain that will revolutionize society, a solution that simplifies and ensures reliability of voting process information is it. Whoever solves these issues and offers the solution first is going to get some of the largest government buyout offers in history but, they need not sell. They can offer the service in a decentralised form to further safeguard against manipulation.

I do not know of all the technical requirements and considerations at this point but, it is absolutely possible to create a better system that can be utilised by any willing country using fractions of what they currently spend. I wonder how many would actually be willing to do this though considering the amount of control it gives over their populations?

Just think if implemented, it would really take begging for votes and link dropping to a whole new level.

Upvote my nomination for President post, please sir. It is the best nomination, everyone thinks so. Just ask anybody. The best.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]