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You guys have issues with elections and vote couting. I think Blockchain would solve this problem once and for all, but I'm afraid it is not a problem anyone wa

by sebo2000 4y ago

You guys have issues with elections and vote couting. I think Blockchain would solve this problem once and for all, but I'm afraid it is not a problem anyone wants to solve...

pjkundert 4y ago
Just like CBDCs. The only problem they are designed to "solve" is the problem of you having liberty. But that's a PR disaster, so the authorities proposing these things have to convince you that they're solving some more important problem -- like "all the baaad people" using money. Hopefully, you'll soon forget you used to have that liberty.
PeterisP 4y ago
Specifically for election security, the key problem that's not easy to solve via blockchain is ensuring a hidden ballot - namely, that after voting there must be no way for you to verify how your specific vote was counted to someone who might be coercing or bribing you, but you still want to verify that the votes were counted properly. A physical ballot box mixing up envelopes under supervision of representatives of all the parties trivially solves that, a block chain does not. You also need a mechanism for preventing (or invalidating afterwards) votes made remotely under coercion/bribery - current mechanisms for handling mail-in votes implement mitigations for that, but a fully digital remote voting makes it tricky. Also, one of the major discussion points regarding USA voting is the eligibility of voters, ensuring that certain people are prevented from voting, but that eligible people can vote without requiring a centralized ID. Again, blockchain only makes this problem more difficult. And finally, by far the most important factor of vote counting is having the losing voters trust that the votes were counted fairly - and a formal mathematical proof is bad at that (for the majority of voters) compared to a relatively simpler, clearer physical system.

You guys have issues with elections and vote couting. I think Blockchain would solve this problem once and for all, but I'm afraid it is not a problem anyone wants to solve...

pjkundert 4y ago

Just like CBDCs. The only problem they are designed to "solve" is the problem of you having liberty. But that's a PR disaster, so the authorities proposing these things have to convince you that they're solving some more important problem -- like "all the baaad people" using money. Hopefully, you'll soon forget you used to have that liberty.

PeterisP 4y ago

Specifically for election security, the key problem that's not easy to solve via blockchain is ensuring a hidden ballot - namely, that after voting there must be no way for you to verify how your specific vote was counted to someone who might be coercing or bribing you, but you still want to verify that the votes were counted properly. A physical ballot box mixing up envelopes under supervision of representatives of all the parties trivially solves that, a block chain does not. You also need a mechanism for preventing (or invalidating afterwards) votes made remotely under coercion/bribery - current mechanisms for handling mail-in votes implement mitigations for that, but a fully digital remote voting makes it tricky. Also, one of the major discussion points regarding USA voting is the eligibility of voters, ensuring that certain people are prevented from voting, but that eligible people can vote without requiring a centralized ID. Again, blockchain only makes this problem more difficult. And finally, by far the most important factor of vote counting is having the losing voters trust that the votes were counted fairly - and a formal mathematical proof is bad at that (for the majority of voters) compared to a relatively simpler, clearer physical system.