The recently held US election has created an immense stir all over social media. Trump himself alleges that the votes were rigged and stolen, driving many to investigate the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s success. Folks call for a new voting system to be achieved for the next election to deter voter fraud, but will anything at all ever change?
Many folks say that blockchain should step up to the plate, but will blockchain resolve America’s concerns with its electoral system?
It’s a Pleasant Thought
Blockchain voting systems have been around for some time, and they’ve seen differing degrees of achievement. The question remains, would a multitude of the rollout of this technology be feasible, and would it work? In reality, the same issues that currently exist would surface once more. If a centralized entity controls the network, then votes could be altered in real-time, meaning you could cast a vote for one party, and it goes to another before you even notice.
On the other hand, if it’s decentralized and the public host their nodes to validate the votes, you run the risk of malicious parties, 51% attacking the network and changing votes. Neither outcome resolves the issue that the recent elections suffered from.
At Least, A Record is Kept
The one saving blessing for a blockchain voting system is that you can verify your vote after you cast it. This means that if your vote were tampered with, you’d be able to see it and report it. However, voters could abuse this and claim they didn’t make the vote they did if they changed their minds after pressing the button. The recording aspect could be huge, and the ability to verify your vote wasn’t changed might create peace of mind amongst voters the world over.
It’s Tough to Execute
Regrettably, making every American to download an app and use it in a particular way could be rather challenging. Not everyone is as technically minded, meaning that some would struggle to vote or not be able to due to a lack of skills. These people could go to a voting center and use a device there, but as we saw in the recent elections, these machines can face errors too. While there are a few perks of a blockchain voting system, the tech still has a way to go.
Blockchain won’t resolve the dispute between Trump and Biden, so we’ll all have to learn to accept the result and try to change the system for the next cycle.
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