Restoring trust in democracy with blockchain as an electoral voting system.
HU University of Applied Sciences.
06/10/2019
1719819
, Restoring trust in democracy with blockchain as an electoral voting system.
Introduction
According to political sociologist Larry Diamond the foundation of a successful
democracy is that the government is chosen and replaced through fair elections
(Diamond, 2004). Voting is essential to a well-functioning democracy, and must be
accessible and secure for all eligible citizens (Osgood, 2016). However, our current
system is facing three threats affecting the nature of our democracy. The first threat
is inaccuracy. Due to insecure methods of counting ballots, and recurring cases of
invalid/inaccurate votes, multiple registrations or other human-errors the outcome of
elections are often manipulated. The second threat is the big percentage of absence,
shaping the final result (Tsilidou, Foroglou, 2015). A democracy functions at its best
when the most people participate. However, our current system is dependent on the
convenience of the eligible voter, which results in to overall low turn-out rates
(Susskind, 2017). Finally, today’s system deals with multiple security vulnerabilities,
which lead to higher chances of electoral fraud. The current system is not
transparent, non-verifiable and relies on people conducting their jobs correctly and
honestly (Osgood, 2016). The time is ripe for modernization.
Although blockchain is most commonly recognized as the technology underpinning
Bitcoin, it may also serve as the key to facilitate secure online voting. The technology
holds the power to eliminate problems within our current voting system (Susskind,
2017). At its core, blockchain is a distributed database that maintains an ever-
growing ledger of records. One of the technology’s most defining and valuable
characteristics is that it eliminates centralized third parties. This is because the
technology is based upon mathematical proof, or ‘hash functions’, rather than trust.
The ledger is immutable, distributed and cryptographically secure (Ayed, 2017). In
other words, it is not possible to modify or tamper with transactions. Enabling the
opportunity to revolutionize voting in elections by allowing secure, anonymous and
verifiable democratic elections.
Scenario + Research
Proponents claim that blockchain is the most important disruptive technology of our
time (Osgood, 2016). The technology offers many potentially world-changing
opportunities, including providing a secure, decentralized and fraud-proof method for
digital voting. In modern days, we still place most of our trust in existing centralized
institutions and systems. In the future, social trust will shift from existing systems to
decentralized systems which are drawn upon blockchain technology.
To account for the plausibility of this future, I will work along two axes of uncertainty
considering technological advancement and social trust. Technological advancement
concerns that the technology is yet unexplored. Even though the technology has
HU University of Applied Sciences.
06/10/2019
1719819
, Restoring trust in democracy with blockchain as an electoral voting system.
Introduction
According to political sociologist Larry Diamond the foundation of a successful
democracy is that the government is chosen and replaced through fair elections
(Diamond, 2004). Voting is essential to a well-functioning democracy, and must be
accessible and secure for all eligible citizens (Osgood, 2016). However, our current
system is facing three threats affecting the nature of our democracy. The first threat
is inaccuracy. Due to insecure methods of counting ballots, and recurring cases of
invalid/inaccurate votes, multiple registrations or other human-errors the outcome of
elections are often manipulated. The second threat is the big percentage of absence,
shaping the final result (Tsilidou, Foroglou, 2015). A democracy functions at its best
when the most people participate. However, our current system is dependent on the
convenience of the eligible voter, which results in to overall low turn-out rates
(Susskind, 2017). Finally, today’s system deals with multiple security vulnerabilities,
which lead to higher chances of electoral fraud. The current system is not
transparent, non-verifiable and relies on people conducting their jobs correctly and
honestly (Osgood, 2016). The time is ripe for modernization.
Although blockchain is most commonly recognized as the technology underpinning
Bitcoin, it may also serve as the key to facilitate secure online voting. The technology
holds the power to eliminate problems within our current voting system (Susskind,
2017). At its core, blockchain is a distributed database that maintains an ever-
growing ledger of records. One of the technology’s most defining and valuable
characteristics is that it eliminates centralized third parties. This is because the
technology is based upon mathematical proof, or ‘hash functions’, rather than trust.
The ledger is immutable, distributed and cryptographically secure (Ayed, 2017). In
other words, it is not possible to modify or tamper with transactions. Enabling the
opportunity to revolutionize voting in elections by allowing secure, anonymous and
verifiable democratic elections.
Scenario + Research
Proponents claim that blockchain is the most important disruptive technology of our
time (Osgood, 2016). The technology offers many potentially world-changing
opportunities, including providing a secure, decentralized and fraud-proof method for
digital voting. In modern days, we still place most of our trust in existing centralized
institutions and systems. In the future, social trust will shift from existing systems to
decentralized systems which are drawn upon blockchain technology.
To account for the plausibility of this future, I will work along two axes of uncertainty
considering technological advancement and social trust. Technological advancement
concerns that the technology is yet unexplored. Even though the technology has
