What? Blockchain is just the ledger. Cryptographically secure. That doesn't mean it secures elections. Election workers can still switch votes, throw votes away, generate fake ballots, etc.
Also, there's been huge theft of bitcoin on some of the exchanges. It's not a blockchain issue as far as I remember. I think someone was able to get access to people's private keys and once you have that then you have access to their coins.
Looked it over. The main reason why the proposed solution would help reduce fraud is that each vote is authenticated. But that's not how our voting system works. People can show up in person and not show id and vote. Huge number of absentee ballots can be mailed in and they have not been authenticated. The election workers can throw out votes, they can change votes. To go the blockchain route defined in the link above, we'd have to go totally digital and have a national id, potentially with cryptographic keys, for everyone wanting to vote.
It's just people that don't understand it or the capability of determined saboteurs that are pushing for this. It's well known in cyber security that security hinges not on advanced technologies or anti-virus, but the people operating the machinery itself. That's why security is so much more about designing network systems architecture with regards to users and their levels of access, I.E. don't give people permissions or accesses they don't need.
Elections need maximum possible transparency, not more layers of tech that will confuse 90%+ of the populace and make votes impossible to measure.
Engineering such an election system is a highly challenging task, to be sure. Security isn't about preventing ALL threats, however, it's about minimizing threat impact and size. A few lost ballots is a lot better than someone being able to change a few thousand with ease.
What? Blockchain is just the ledger. Cryptographically secure. That doesn't mean it secures elections. Election workers can still switch votes, throw votes away, generate fake ballots, etc.
Also, there's been huge theft of bitcoin on some of the exchanges. It's not a blockchain issue as far as I remember. I think someone was able to get access to people's private keys and once you have that then you have access to their coins.
https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/plymouth.pdf
Looked it over. The main reason why the proposed solution would help reduce fraud is that each vote is authenticated. But that's not how our voting system works. People can show up in person and not show id and vote. Huge number of absentee ballots can be mailed in and they have not been authenticated. The election workers can throw out votes, they can change votes. To go the blockchain route defined in the link above, we'd have to go totally digital and have a national id, potentially with cryptographic keys, for everyone wanting to vote.
It's just people that don't understand it or the capability of determined saboteurs that are pushing for this. It's well known in cyber security that security hinges not on advanced technologies or anti-virus, but the people operating the machinery itself. That's why security is so much more about designing network systems architecture with regards to users and their levels of access, I.E. don't give people permissions or accesses they don't need.
Elections need maximum possible transparency, not more layers of tech that will confuse 90%+ of the populace and make votes impossible to measure.
Engineering such an election system is a highly challenging task, to be sure. Security isn't about preventing ALL threats, however, it's about minimizing threat impact and size. A few lost ballots is a lot better than someone being able to change a few thousand with ease.