Voting is a critical aspect of any democratic society, as it allows citizens to express their opinions and elect representatives to govern them. However, traditional voting systems are prone to fraud, tampering, and manipulation, leading to questions about the legitimacy of election outcomes. The emergence of new technologies such as blockchain has opened up new possibilities for secure, transparent, and verifiable voting systems.

In the context of voting, blockchain can help ensure the integrity of the process by creating a tamper-proof record of all votes cast. Each vote is recorded as a transaction on the blockchain, verified by a network of nodes. This makes it virtually impossible for any single party to alter the results without detection.

This was one of the main topics of discussion at the recent Democracy4All summit in Barcelona. The panel was chaired by Adam C. English (Founder of Crypto with English) and included:

• Dr Craig Wright – Chief Scientist at nChain;
• Ekhard Seeßelberg – Director at Tipolis;
• Montse Guàrdia – Co-founder and CEO of Big Onion;
• Dr Stephen Castell – Internationally acknowledged ICT consultant and visionary

Democracy can only be brought about when people take action

Dr Wright began the presentation by noting that while blockchain and other technology will help boost democratic societies – ultimately it was the people voting who still need to take action and accountability.

‘At the end of the day, if you want any change, it’s not AI, automation or any of these other computer-based things – it is a bunch of people getting together and deciding something,’ he said.

Wright added that the human mind cannot simply be broken down into a series of ones and zeroes, despite the best efforts of companies in Silicon Valley. While cognitive processes and heuristics can be identified, this is not the same as an algorithm.

Free cities, education and technology via blockchain

The panel also discussed the concept of free cities and how new technologies could help or hinder this ideal. A free city is a city having an independent government and forms a sovereign state by itself.

While there was a lively debate about whether this concept is new, or even desirable, Dr Wright argued again that this was a concept that once again came down to the people behind the idea and less about what technology they aimed to use.

‘Part of the problem isn’t that we don’t have enough people in government who are educated and know computer code. Instead, the problem is that we don’t have enough educated people anywhere.

‘Education is not just learning how to code – that’s vocational training. Education is understanding philosophy and understanding history and having a comprehensive range of knowledge.’

Blockchain and voting

Using blockchain technology for voting would involve creating a digital ledger of all the votes cast, with each vote recorded as a block in the chain. Once a vote is recorded, it cannot be changed or deleted, providing a permanent record of the voting process. This can help to ensure the integrity of the election process and increase voter confidence.

Blockchain-based voting can also enhance transparency by enabling real-time access to vote results. Each vote can be publicly recorded on the blockchain, allowing anyone to verify the results independently. This can help to eliminate any doubts or controversies around the election results and increase public trust in the electoral process.

Another benefit of blockchain-based voting is that it can streamline the voting process, making it more accessible to voters. Voting can be done from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, eliminating the need for physical polling stations. This can help to increase voter turnout and reduce the costs associated with traditional voting methods.

The best blockchain for governments and voters

Global adoption of blockchain technology requires enterprises and lawmakers to become comfortable with blockchain technology. To ensure the development of a regulatory environment that both fosters lawful conduct and facilitates innovation, the BSV ecosystem regularly engages with leading policymakers to raise awareness of legislative issues and advise on the development of positive policy.

BSV is the best-distributed data ledger for enterprise-grade applications and services with its massive scaling, micropayments, greater data capacity, and reliably low fees. BSV is already being used to build applications for diverse industry sectors.

You can read more about the various enterprise and government use cases here.