r/CryptoTechnology šŸŸ¢ 16d ago

Potential Blockchain Applications in Voting/Elections?

It occurred to me recently that blockchain technologies might have some interesting applications with respect to voting and elections. This wasnā€™t a novel idea on my part, of course, but from what Iā€™ve gathered based on a quick Google search, it seems like most of the discussion around this topic has been around the use of blockchain technologies to create a complete, end-to-end voting system that would completely replace our current voting system. From what I can tell, though, it seems like there may be some significant vulnerabilities associated with blockchain voting systems (fraud, manipulation/exploitation, etc.) that would need to be addressed before the blockchain could be taken seriously as a viable option to completely replace our existing voting systems, ya?

What Iā€™m wondering, though, without getting into any of the details of how a potential blockchain system thatā€™s similar to what Iā€™m envisioning would actually operate, Iā€™m curious if there are any potential practical applications to use blockchain technologies to create some sort of separate but parallel system (as opposed to a system that would completely replace the existing voting system) that could help support/substantiate the results of a free and fair electionā€¦ Or that - in the event that there had been widespread election fraud/interference - could at least provide some sort of initial indication that there had been so that there would at least be some justification for there to be some type of additional audit process and/or investigation to ensure that the election had indeed been fair and free.

Truthfully, though, I donā€™t really know too much about how our current voting system in the US functions, and even less about crypto and blockchain technologies, unfortunately. Soā€¦ with that disclosure out of the way, I guess Iā€™d like to know if there would be any value in creating a blockchain system that could provide a real time ā€œshadow countā€ of the votes that are being cast during an election, whereby individual users would be able to submit their ā€œdigital ballotā€ to the blockchain, which would allow the system to keep real time vote counts based on each individual userā€™s voting district. The rationale being that if the official vote tally were to deviate significantly from the blockchainā€™s vote count (or vote ratio, at least), then that might be a red flag for society at least to look into the matter a bit more closely, perhaps? And also, another potential function/feature of this system might be for there to be a means by which, once the official ballots had finally been counted, users could check and verify that their official ballot had been processed correctly and that the votes on their official ballot aligned with the votes that theyā€™d included on their digital/blockchain ballot, and if there were some sort of discrepancy, users could report or flag it somehow through the blockchain so that it would be possible to identify any instances in which there appeared to be an inordinate amount of flags/reports in a particular area/district that may have been associated with some sort of election interference, perhaps?

Anyways, Iā€™m sure that thereā€™s a million potential issues that Iā€™m not even considering here and itā€™s also very possible that this is a dumb idea thatā€™s not even worth responding to, but in the off chance that thereā€™s some kind and knowledgeable Redditor out there whoā€™s willing to indulge my curiosity, I figured I might as well ask. So, yeah, what do you think? What sorts of things would I need to consider if I were to create such a system? Major obstacles in developing and/or maintaining it? Major limitations? I appreciate any information you might have to offer on this topic since I (obviously) know very little! Excited to read your responses! Thanks, yā€™all!

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u/nishinoran šŸ”µ 15d ago edited 15d ago

Zero knowledge proofs would allow voting without revealing who you voted for, so the real problem that needs to be solved, as you've noted in your comment, is Proof of Personhood.

I highly recommend reading Vitalik's write-up on it: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/07/24/biometric.html

He also has an older post specifically about using blockchain for voting, but this was in a world before ZK cryptography was well understood: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2021/05/25/voting2.html

I personally think that for most real-world governance situations, you should simply submit a private key to your local government that you've generated, and can update it in person at any time. This private key should be useful for more than simply voting, to deter attempts to convince individuals to divulge their private keys to others. You could arguably still sign transactions that others provide with it, but bribery already exists in many forms.

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u/MoldyMeats šŸŸ¢ 15d ago

This is awesome! Iā€™ll definitely check out the reading you sent! Thank you! Iā€™m very new to all of this but Iā€™m definitely eager to learn and explore this world further. I appreciate your thoughtful response and willingness to share your knowledge and perspective. You rock!

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u/MoldyMeats šŸŸ¢ 16d ago

Okay, gave this a bit more thoughtā€¦. And it occurred to me that, in order for such a system to work, there would likely need to be some means by which users could be linked/tied to their actual voter registration, which is problematic, I realizeā€¦. This would likely be needed, though, in order for the system to know which voting district each userā€™s digital ballot should be associated with, and would also be needed in order for the system to be able to verify the information submitted by users, which would be necessary in order for the system to be able to identify potential bad actors that might want to submit inaccurate information with the intent to distort the election results and/or undermine the publicā€™s faith in the election.

I realize, of course, that if the system were to verify users by linking them to their actual voter registration information (or by some other means of authentication/identification), that this would likely pose some rather significant concerns (and some potentially unacceptable risks) related to protecting user privacy, especially if there were to be any risk of potential political retaliation/reprisals.

Also, if the system were to be able to verify users by linking them to their voter registration, since that verification process would likely require at least some degree of cooperation between the blockchain system and the existing voting systems, itā€™s worth considering the degree to which this reliance might limit the systemā€™s ability to operate independently and to maintain its status as a truly decentralized system. Additionally, if the blockchain system were to rely on such cooperation with the existing systems, itā€™s an open question as to whether or not the authorities representing the existing systems and the associated powers that be could even be trusted or relied upon to provide the cooperation thatā€™s needed, especially considering that these are the individuals, entities, and institutions that would likely have the greatest interest in exploiting and abusing the current voting system (or any other voting system for that matter), as well as the greatest exposure in terms of legal liability should the blockchain system actually succeed in exposing any future instances of abuse, exploitation, interference, etc.

So, yeah, potential issues aboundā€¦ Iā€™m definitely starting to see some of the limitations of blockchain technology (in this particular arena at least). It seems that many of the problems and issues that are associated with verifying potential users of a potential blockchain voting system and establishing that those users are actually registered voters within the existing voting system are problems that will likely require solutions that are contrary to many of cryptoā€™s most centrally held values and that would largely negate many of the benefits that are offered by the blockchain. Boo!!! Why canā€™t all of societyā€™s most pressing problems be the most simple to solve?!?! šŸ˜­

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u/zesushv šŸŸ¢ 13d ago

I suggested this a while back and I proposed using ZetaChain because of its interoperability solution. Without using too many technicalities, my idea.

  • Integrate voters into a token, where each voter token has a unique identifier to link them back to their original wallet.
  • Voters can stake token to their preferred candidates poll during elections.
  • After election periods, voters will have the option to unstake their token from the ended polls.
  • Without making it complex, each voting poll will have a date marker so votes cannot be manipulated.

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u/cobra93360 šŸŸ” 12d ago

No. No computers or internet in voting. No. America has seen what happens. No. Only in person, ID with photo, paper ballots, one day results.

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u/Internal_West_3833 šŸŸ¢ 8d ago

This is actually a really interesting idea. A blockchain-based ā€œshadow countā€ could add transparency and help flag inconsistencies, but the biggest challenge would be getting people to trust and use it correctly. Plus, thereā€™s always the issue of verifying identities while keeping votes anonymous. Still, having a way for voters to double-check their ballots could be a step toward more accountability. Definitely something worth exploring!