Shell-shocked from the startling Brexit vote, followed by back-to-back political convention diatribes coddling Twitter streams and big screens, one could ask—surfacing briefly from a media device—have elections changed all that much over the years?
The answer must be yes, and that’s partly because of the speed at which public opinion gets spread by social media. We all knew the Brits regretted Brexit within moments of the result being called. And we haven’t needed journalists to tell us what some, collectively, think of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
+ Also on Network World: Google wants you to be able to vote online +
One remarkable thing, though, is that given all the tech available, we still need to attend a voting booth, trust a counting system (remember hanging chads) and wait for the votes to be counted. The speed at which the election takes place, doesn’t match the speed of our media.
And it’s not necessary, some developers say. Blockchain could be adapted for elections to allow early voting from smartphones; allow second-by-second, public audit transparency of the ballot; allow you to change your vote right up to the poll close; and provide instant results right then and there.
Follow My Vote is a blockchain-based voting software solution that promises to revolutionize elections.
It works along the same principals as Bitcoin, where an encrypted ledger is distributed using computer power. That open-source, secure, peer-to-peer asset maintenance and payment system could be mimicked for numerous other purposes, many say.
That includes banking, distributed patient medical data, real estate transactions and elections. I wrote about a private blockchain operating system recently that promises to fix banking software problems .Follow My Vote says its system, as with other blockchains, removes vulnerabilities. Fraud, external influence such as intimidation, miscounting and other shenanigans are eliminated.Plus, voting would join the […]
