Count the countries that use the blockchain voting system

The 2020 U.S. election is one of the most watched election processes in U.S. history. Due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, a large number of U.S. voters chose to vote by mail, which led to a record high in absentee voting in the U.S. election. Even so, the time for the counting of votes has been repeatedly delayed. What is more dramatic is that after the election results came out, due to dissatisfaction with the final results, the former President Trump made many judicial charges. Every step of the election was carefully investigated. This not only caused tension in the US election, but also It sparked a fierce debate on the authenticity and legitimacy of the current US electoral system. And the question that followed was: What kind of voting method is more reliable for voters and candidates?

Some people envision using an electronic voting system supported by blockchain as the answer. Such a system will allow voters to vote remotely in their own homes, while protecting their identities and ensuring privacy. Also for candidates, the advantages of blockchain can avoid interference in the voter’s voting process, and will affect those who enter the blockchain platform. Absolute verification of all ballots can achieve a safe and transparent voting mechanism and election voting supervision, and effectively prevent election fraud.

In today's article, we will count the countries that have used and are preparing to deploy blockchain-based voting systems.

United States

Advertisements for the VOATZ voting system during the US general election

You may be surprised, but in fact, as early as 2018, the United States has used the blockchain electronic voting system to vote in West Virginia in the 2018 midterm elections and has been using the system ever since. In the 2020 presidential election, a blockchain electronic voting system was also used in Utah.

The blockchain electronic voting system used in these two continents is Voatz. Voatz is a smartphone application software APP based on blockchain technology. It promises to use blockchain technology to encrypt messages and guarantee the blockchain they build The network is completely secure. The software is mainly aimed at members of the armed forces stationed abroad that can confirm voter registration through facial recognition, fingerprints and military ID cards to conduct remote voting. At the same time, the system generates a paper ballot for each state and tracks the ballot on the ballot chain. Voatz also returns ballot receipts to voters who have enabled tracking. However, Voatz has recently been caught in a public opinion storm due to the security of its application. A research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a paper outlining many issues. For example, their Voatz would enter the voting process without authorization. At the same time, they also emphasized their vulnerability to third-party attacks. Finally, it is recommended that the application should be abandoned during major elections.

Affected by this, West Virginia has suspended the use of the application for voting, while Utah has not issued any statement and will continue to use it.

Japan

Microsoft Japan and LAYERX collaborate on a blockchain-based voting system

In 2020, Tsukuba City will become the first city in Japan to introduce blockchain digital voting. As part of the smart city plan, Japanese blockchain company LayerX is included in the city's smart voting system plan. Currently, LayerX's proposal has met the standards set by the government for the electronic voting system. Although the city of Tsukuba has not used this system in the government election process, the government has already used the blockchain voting system to vote for some social development proposals. LayerX enables voters to vote online remotely, and their votes are recorded in a decentralized distributed ledger. In general, the launch of this application is considered a success, and the Mayor Duff praised the voting process of this blockchain for making the voting process simple and credible.

Russia

Russia has been interested in blockchain-based voting systems for many years and has created several blockchain voting systems that have undergone multiple iterations. Part of the system has been successfully used in elections.

In the summer of 2020, Russia voted on a constitutional amendment that continues to be led by the current leader Putin. In Moscow, voters can vote remotely through an Exonum system built on Bitfury's open source platform. The system was established by Kaspersky Lab and uses blockchain technology to ensure the identity of voters and record voting records on the chain in real time. The interlude in the middle is that the filming system was reported to have been attacked by a node and experienced other problems, such as a crash during the voting window.

However, the Russian government is still very interested in the blockchain-based voting system. In the next September by-election, Russia conducted two more non-blockchain voting systems for pilot voting. The platforms they use are based on the blockchain system Waves Enterprise, which is a hybrid blockchain that combines the advantages of private and publicly licensed blockchain technology. Based on the above, this system can encrypt the vote, and the citizen's personal identity can be separated from his vote by anonymous signature until the end of the vote. However, it is interesting to note that perhaps it has done too well in terms of protecting privacy. According to Russian reports, the government has encountered some difficulties in verifying the identity of voters.

Korea

Although the blockchain voting system has not been used in formal elections, South Korea has partnered with IBM's Hyperledger Fabric to create a blockchain voting pilot, which will verify the identity of voters and save voting results in real time. At present, the blockchain voting system has only conducted small-scale experiments in the laboratory. If you want larger-scale experiments, it also needs to be voted by the Korean legislature before it can be used in federal elections.

Thailand

Thailand’s National Electronics and Computer Technology Center has completed the development of a blockchain-based voting system. The system is ready to be used in national and local elections, as well as decision-making voting for some government proposals. It allows voters to vote via email and will use facial recognition from mobile phones and laptop cameras to verify identities. Like South Korea, the voting system is still only tested in small-scale elections. And mainly for Thai citizens in foreign countries to vote.

From what we have seen so far, even if the blockchain-based voting system is not yet mature, he will face some problems more or less, but many countries regard blockchain technology as an ideal voting In this way, it can effectively guarantee the legitimacy of the election process and the authenticity of the voting results. For voters, the blockchain has enough ability to hide the identity of the voters and their choices. It is believed that in the near future, a safe and reliable blockchain voting system will be deployed in various fields in more countries, and its speed may be faster than ever before.