Jordan Cueto

Blockchain for improving voting transparency It’s no secret that cryptocurrency prices have been in a downward trend for months now. Shifting trends, higher fees, and overall skepticism brought by failed ICOs and projects have been hitting the industry non-stop since early 2018. However, the case is different with its back-end technology: blockchain. Blockchain has been in the spotlight consistently now with countries like Malta, Thailand, and China adopting national regulations that play well with blockchain projects and startups. Today, let’s look at one of the latest countries to adopt the distributed ledger technology on one of their voting systems: Japan and its city, Tsukasa. Seamless Integration with Voting The idea is to implement a system similar to conventional voting and utilizing the equivalent of social security cards to verify voter identity. Currently, it has been reported that the solution is now being used to allow citizens to cast votes on community projects, a good fit for Tsukasa which is known as the country’s center for scientific research. “I had thought it would involve more complicated procedures, but I found that it’s minimal and easy,” Tsukuba Mayor Tatsuo Igarashi said. The primary use for blockchain in the project is via verification. The distributed ledger technology of the blockchain allows the encryption of transactions to be unalterable ­– a defining feature that served as the primary foundation for cryptocurrency’s authenticity. In retrospect, blockchain and voting was already a concept waiting to happen as these two are functions that directly improve the efficacy of the other. Voting has always been a sensitive topic when it comes to transparency and visibility and blockchain always tried to answer these concerns by employing a peer-to-peer platform for verifying any kind of transaction and essentially removing the key central figures that are prone to making errors. Main applications Central to the blockchain’s appeal for voting is its decentralized feature. This enhances the voting integrity and voting confidence of the public as records are updated in real-time with no possible options for alteration. No singular entity will be able to manipulate or control the record – a game-changer especially for centralized sectors like governments which have always relied on systems with intermediaries. This will not only secure the voting platform but also speed up the process of voting by removing a bulk of the verifications needed and shifting the bulk of work to smart contracts. The same scenario can be seen in supply chains where blockchain is already disrupting the way shipments and proof of deliveries are being disputed on. “Dispute” is the keyword – blockchain’s open system allows disputes to be settled automatically with the help of smart contracts. Blockchain can also improve the existing security infrastructures of governments especially when it comes to handling sensitive tasks like vote counting. It is no secret that elections and other forms of crucial government tasks are always prone to cybersecurity threats. Blockchain addresses this issue by providing a multitude of copies and security features across nodes participating in the blockchain platform. Challenges The first key challenge is community reception. In the voting experiment done in Tsukasa, some voters were reported to have misplaced their voting IDs which presents an already insurmountable barrier to the actual voting process. The overall skepticism over blockchain is still a problem too but Japan believes that continuous application of the technology to more fundamental aspects of society will remedy this problem in due time. Another problem is the cooperation of existing organizations and sectors in using the platform. After all, blockchain is a community-based technology: no community, no authentication. It is safe to say that a blockchain without a community or an alliance doesn’t make much sense in practical application. This puts a burden not only in the government pushing for adoption but also on the affected communities, participants, and sectors as it will demand new sets of knowledge and skills to be learned and adopted. Conclusion There is still a huge realistic burden when it comes to blockchain adoption for goverments. However, recent trends of countries adopting blockchain like Malta, Thailand, China, and now Japan with its voting system is a good indicator especially considering the recent low trends in cryptocurrency prices. There is now an undeniable separation of perception when it comes to blockchain and cryptocurrency and we are now entering an age real-life blockchain applications – a future which, from all perspectives, will be a huge boon for the cryptocurrency market.