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A voting system based on the Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System behind Bitcoin. The major reasons votes couldn't be conducted electronically is because of trus

by marmano 13y ago

A voting system based on the Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System behind Bitcoin. The major reasons votes couldn't be conducted electronically is because of trust issues and today we have a technology that solves that. I think this could potentially disrupt voting if properly executed.

ams6110 13y ago
Unfortunately all the bitcoin fiascos lately do nothing to engender public support and confidence in a voting system that "works like bitcoin."
jarofgreen 13y ago
Can't really see a way of doing this without all votes being public, which is sometimes wanted but often not?
- mrfusion 13y ago
  Well you'd register to vote just like you do now, by mail or online, and get returned a wallet instead of a little certificate. You'd just need a law that the voting center can't track the wallets I guess.
aaronem 13y ago
When transaction malleability kills.
Jonovono 13y ago
I have not looked too much into this project but I think this is the goal it is after: http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~clark/projects/commitcoin/ http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~clark/projects/commitcoin/
ozgung 13y ago
I see this idea very promising. This problem is a very good research topic for academics. I'm sure the current shortcomings can be fixed. The main problem is that all the transactions should be public, but the individual votes should be kept as private. We may overcome this problem by a 2 level system, just like in the traditional offline elections. 1. Ballot box level. Each 'digital ballot box' has a certain amount of voting coins. Voters go to a voting site, prove their identities and are given a key for a single transaction. This transaction transfers one voting coin from the ballot box to one of the recipient wallets (each wallet representing a candidate or a decision). 2. Network level. All transactions from ballot boxes to candidate accounts are public and verifiable using bitcoin protocol. At the end of the voting period all the remaining unused coins must be transferred to a common wallet representing empty votes. So these numbers must mach: Number of coins = number of voters = sum of coins in all wallets Candidate with the most coins wins. The main benefit of bitcoin voting is that it's not a centralized system. It's open, online and verifiable.

by marmano 13y ago

ams6110 13y ago

Unfortunately all the bitcoin fiascos lately do nothing to engender public support and confidence in a voting system that "works like bitcoin."

jarofgreen 13y ago

Can't really see a way of doing this without all votes being public, which is sometimes wanted but often not?

mrfusion 13y ago
Well you'd register to vote just like you do now, by mail or online, and get returned a wallet instead of a little certificate. You'd just need a law that the voting center can't track the wallets I guess.

aaronem 13y ago

When transaction malleability kills.

Jonovono 13y ago

I have not looked too much into this project but I think this is the goal it is after: http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~clark/projects/commitcoin/ http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~clark/projects/commitcoin/

ozgung 13y ago

I see this idea very promising. This problem is a very good research topic for academics. I'm sure the current shortcomings can be fixed. The main problem is that all the transactions should be public, but the individual votes should be kept as private. We may overcome this problem by a 2 level system, just like in the traditional offline elections. 1. Ballot box level. Each 'digital ballot box' has a certain amount of voting coins. Voters go to a voting site, prove their identities and are given a key for a single transaction. This transaction transfers one voting coin from the ballot box to one of the recipient wallets (each wallet representing a candidate or a decision). 2. Network level. All transactions from ballot boxes to candidate accounts are public and verifiable using bitcoin protocol. At the end of the voting period all the remaining unused coins must be transferred to a common wallet representing empty votes. So these numbers must mach: Number of coins = number of voters = sum of coins in all wallets Candidate with the most coins wins. The main benefit of bitcoin voting is that it's not a centralized system. It's open, online and verifiable.