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The main problem as I see it is that such a system would be completely inaccessible to anyone who is not a software developer. With a paper-based system, all y

The main problem as I see it is that such a system would be completely inaccessible to anyone who is not a software developer. With a paper-based system, all you need to understand is that your paper goes into a box and someone counts it later on. Everyone understands every step, including the steps required to secure that box. But once you require people to understand blockchain you are putting the intregrity of the election in the hands of a privileged elite.

dgellow 6y ago
Yes, that's a very good point and another reason I personally advocate for paper ballots. But you can also see it the other way: anyone can learn how to check their entry in the ledger, that takes time but it's not some rocket science. That can be democratized in a way paper ballot cannot be as it requires a huge amount of people and has an important cost for the community.
the_snooze 6y ago
It's sad so many technically-minded people fail to account for this when it comes to trust, especially in the context of voting. You can't get people to trust a system by cloaking it in cryptographic black magic. It has to be scrutable to the people participating in it, especially the voters and volunteer poll workers who most closely interact with it.
charcircuit 6y ago
I don't understand that system. I drop off a sealed ballot in a ballot box and then that's it. I just have to trust that the system works. I have to way to prove that my vote was counted. I have no way to count the votes for. I don't understand the process behind how my votes get counted and it would be fine if people didn't understand how blockchains work.
- OldHand2018 6y ago
  If you want to understand how your local elections work, just go volunteer when they ask for volunteers.
crispyambulance 6y ago
> But once you require people to understand blockchain you are putting the integrity of the election in the hands of a privileged elite. I would say, even worse, we would have to require people to TRUST a system that uses blockchain in addition to understanding it. The fact that in some thin layer of a gigantic inscrutable system there's a mathematically irrefutable "truth" does NOT make people feel better about it. Trust is NOT a mathematical concept. In any case for blockchain to ever take off in common usage, it's going to have to overcome its association with scammy cryptocurrency schemes. That's going to be a while!

dgellow 6y ago

Yes, that's a very good point and another reason I personally advocate for paper ballots. But you can also see it the other way: anyone can learn how to check their entry in the ledger, that takes time but it's not some rocket science. That can be democratized in a way paper ballot cannot be as it requires a huge amount of people and has an important cost for the community.

the_snooze 6y ago

It's sad so many technically-minded people fail to account for this when it comes to trust, especially in the context of voting. You can't get people to trust a system by cloaking it in cryptographic black magic. It has to be scrutable to the people participating in it, especially the voters and volunteer poll workers who most closely interact with it.

charcircuit 6y ago

I don't understand that system. I drop off a sealed ballot in a ballot box and then that's it. I just have to trust that the system works. I have to way to prove that my vote was counted. I have no way to count the votes for. I don't understand the process behind how my votes get counted and it would be fine if people didn't understand how blockchains work.

OldHand2018 6y ago
If you want to understand how your local elections work, just go volunteer when they ask for volunteers.

crispyambulance 6y ago

> But once you require people to understand blockchain you are putting the integrity of the election in the hands of a privileged elite. I would say, even worse, we would have to require people to TRUST a system that uses blockchain in addition to understanding it. The fact that in some thin layer of a gigantic inscrutable system there's a mathematically irrefutable "truth" does NOT make people feel better about it. Trust is NOT a mathematical concept. In any case for blockchain to ever take off in common usage, it's going to have to overcome its association with scammy cryptocurrency schemes. That's going to be a while!