US Congress Supports the Blockchain-based Voting to Address Tabled Issues amid Corona Crisis


The ongoing corona pandemic is instrumental
in changing the course of economies across the world and is influencing the
policymakers as well. US Senate is no exception to this very situation. In last
week's development, the US Senate held a round table discussion to seek
solutions for the remote smooth functioning of the two legislative houses amid
the corona crisis. And the blockchain-based solution has been considered as one
of the viable options to carry out voting on tabled issues.
A staff memo has been released by the US
Congress, evaluating the feasibility of the blockchain technology to conduct
remote voting.
The memo emphasizes that the two chambers
have always hold in-person meetings for committee hearings, floor deliberation,
and voting. Thus neither of the chambers has a contingency plan to conduct
these functions remotely.
However, the document affirms that through
the encrypted distributed ledger, blockchain can be a feasible option to carry
out the voting process securely and smoothly with the verification of the
correct vote.
The Document states, “Blockchains can
provide a transparent and secure environment for transactions and a tamper-free
electronic record of all the votes. It also reduces the risks of incorrect vote
tallies.”
The document also mentions the Estonia
parliamentary elections in 2019, wherein 44% of votes have been cast online
that underlines the likelihood of blockchain deployment in future elections.
Arguments over Risks involved with
Blockchain
The memo has arrived when the deliberations
in the houses have been heating up, about the deployment and efficacy of the
blockchain-based solutions in the governance. In the meanwhile, Treasury
Secretary Steve Mnuchin has also been requested by the members of Congress to
ruminate the proposal to use blockchain-based stimulus distributions.
While identifying the risk of 51% attack
while conducting the Senate polls, the document also indicates the threats
involved in using blockchain. It also expresses concerns about the possible
vulnerabilities of bugs and cryptographic errors.
Blockchain as an immutable ledger can provide a secure way to cast and verify the vote. Distributed voting systems have been experimented previously in the US elections in some way or another. However, there have been arguments about the early use of the blockchains owing to the failure blockchain application Voatz in the context of security and transparency. Voatz had been used in previous municipal and runoff elections in the US.
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Jayashree Ingle
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA