Opportunities And Challenges Of Blockchain For E-Voting

Introduction The persistent pandemic has forced every industry to innovate their use of technology and find new ways of running the business with minimum disruption. Challenges with conducting elections during these uncertain times are not any exception.

- N. Gopala Krishna Murthy

Traditional voting predominantly involves people standing in long queues in front of their designated polling stations and exercising their franchise using paper or electronic ballots. People have had their human rights compromised and their fundamental freedoms provided by their constitution taken away. The pitfalls of the current system of ballot voting are being taken as an advantage by people or organizations looking to gain power.

In the African countries of Uganda and Kenya there has been widespread controversy over their elections in recent years. In today's setting, finding contactless alternatives to in-person voting has become important. People are supposed to trust the result which is provided by an Election commission or a government body ensuring the election integrity and safeguarding its outcome even when remote voting becomes the new normal.

Technologies such as Blockchain have several inherent technology capabilities that are conducive for holding secure and yet transparent elections.

In the last couple of years, Blockchain has supported several elections, from Sierra Leone in 2018 to Russia in 2020. The US Postal Service (USPS) has applied for a patent for a Blockchain voting system.

The USPS is reportedly contemplating Blockchain as anamicable option for managing the mail-in votes that are expected to surge during the upcoming elections, due to the increased number of voters choosing to vote remotely.

What is E-Voting

Electronic voting (also known as e-voting) is a process to exercise franchise by using electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting votes.