Election and consensus

_{google's customized page for taiwan's election}

It's Taiwan's midterm local elections Saturday today. I am not gonna talk about it.

But when I casted the vote, this action reminds me of the consensus process of blockchains. Blockchains need consensus to maintain an unambiguous ledger so a system of money can be established electronically.

Then, why do we vote in real life?

Because we can only have one mayor for this city. Why is that? Why can't we have two or three or more mayors? That's a good question. If we do not need a central decision maker for a city, then we actually do not need a mayor or can have multiple mayors at the same time for different matters.

If we can have, of course in the distant future, a mechanism that can collect citizens' opinions instantly over all kinds of issues for public matters, like one powered by the blockchains, then it seems we indeed can do this.

Interesting.

But, for now, voting for the candidate you like, is still the best way to secure democracy ...