The US 2020 Elections - Blockchain is the solution.
In two days there will be a the US elections for next president of the United States, members of House of representatives, and some of the senators. This is going to be one of the closely watched events globally. While many would argue this is one of the consequential elections in the history, I tent to think it is just elections as many we had before.
One of the questions it raises though is of important notice. Unlike previous elections, this one is going to have many mail-in ballots due to Covid-19 crisis. This has raised questions of potential frauds by the president Trump and republicans. It is highly possible that we may not know the results of the elections at the election night, on the November 3rd.
The troubling question many of us might have is why not? There has been ample time for government officials and those in charge of counting ballots to figure out ways to count the ballots in-person and by mail effectively and efficiently. Are they all so incompetent to take care of a simple business or are they just too corrupt to play games?
This all makes me think of how important of a role blockchain technology could play in improving the election process. Many seek transparency, lack of fraud, accuracy, and promptness of elections results. For a blockchain technology transparency is no brainer. It can take care of it easily, as all results are provided in a public ledger anybody can see and analyze.
Privacy is another important topic. While I personally don't think privacy is too important when votes are cast. Those in politics already know who votes how. They can buy all the data for their future campaigning purposes, and gerrymandering. They do it all the time. But still convention is votes are personal matter and everybody must be provided privacy. I am not sure how it could be done, since I am not a blockchain expert. But since blockchain utilized cryptography in its core, I am sure there could be solutions to provide fair privacy for voters.
As votes can be case using blockchain tech, it wouldn't take long time to wait for results and results can be available super quick. At the very least the same day. This can contribute to improving democratic processes.
The problem is governments are too slow to catch up with the advancement in technologies. Not only that, but the corruption and serving certain interest groups may also slow down utilizing such tech in election and political affairs. But one can hope one day we elect smarter people who can see benefits of technology in improving not only our everyday lives but also how we participate in politics with intent of improving democratic process. Blockchain, in my opinion, is a suitable solution.
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