Can Blockchains Clean Up Elections And Stop Vote Rigging? Sierra Leone Already Leads The World!

in #politics6 years ago

I have made no secret that as far as I am aware, our democracies are fake and rigged by design, but is there any possibility for improving the situation? Could blockchains solve the problem?

stalin approves

Covertly controlling a democracy might seem a major challenge, but for an organised group of less than 1% of the population (perhaps a secret society or secret 'service') it would be very doable. Besides the fake political process and stage theatrics, it would be necessary to rig the elections! By having controlled opposition that appears to be providing an opponent to the ruling group, but which actually does nothing of the sort - it is possible to ensure that no real change can occur in politics. By controlling the actual voting process, the outcome becomes guaranteed and no independents will get into positions of power.

Simply by inserting key people into vote counting roles, it is possible to covertly change the outcome of elections. There has been at least one example in America of a computer programmer testifying in court that he was paid to hack the code used in the electronic vote counting machines to rig the election - so electronic voting is no better. In fact, 'traditional' electronic voting is easier to rig than paper voting since the rigging takes place in circuit boards that cannot be overlooked by eye.

Since we now have consensus algorithms used by blockchain technology to ensure the integrity of financial transactions worth many billions of dollars, we therefore also have a way of ensuring the logging of votes is reliable and trustworthy! Bonus!

Given this is the case, it seems right to suggest that no election should be held without the use of this new way of ensuring integrity!

Sierra Leone is way ahead of the rest of the world!


As it turns out, Sierra Leone has already tested such a scheme, recording 70% of the votes in a recent election on a blockchain!

The company who ran the process is called Agora and they have a whitepaper that outlines their blockchain voting technology in graphic detail.

You can see the detailed results of the election here.

They claim this is 'unforgeable' and rely on witness nodes and 'auditor' nodes in a similar way to the way that Steem does. Node operators are paid in VOTE tokens as rewards for their checking and computation.

Where's the catch?

Well, the witness nodes are currently by invitation only and are run by NGOs, universities and other institutions. So, in short, to corrupt the system requires only that the people running those nodes are corrupted. Given that the nodes are run by invite only groups - this leads to the obvious idea that the entire system COULD be corrupt from the beginning - with us being forced to still trust a small group of people - instead of a different small groups of people who would be doing manual, paper vote counting!

I think that the best possible situation is one where everyone runs their own P2P style micro node on their phone or computer - allowing them to validate the calculations themselves if they prefer. This would also be in alignment with the idea of DIRECT democracy, where everyone has a vote - instead of the limited and dysfunctional (dishonest) form of democracy we are stuck with currently called REPRESENTATIONAL democracy, which relies on a small group of people being given the voice of a large number of people (usually resulting in the needs of the majority being totally ignored).

While all democracy tends to result in the needs of many people being trampled, at least blockchains might eventually solve one of the problems... But I'm not sure we are there yet!

Wishing you well,

Ura Soul

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I sure hope there is a way the blockchain can be developed to the point it can be un-riggable, but I agree, I doubt we are there yet. What a WONDERFUL thing that would be though!

Right now, with the electronic voting machines STILL NOT HAVING BEEN OUTLAWED DESPITE ALL THE OBVIOUS FRAUD, the only truly secure way to vote would be to go back to doing it the very old-fashioned way-- where people cast their votes PUBLICLY in a town (or precinct) meeting with a show of hands (or rising to be counted, etc.) NOW THAT is full proof, as long as the meetings are not too large, and people can count for themselves along with the official counters.

Now, if we could do something like THAT using a blockchain..i.e. instantaneous, total-visibility verification BY THE VOTERS we might have a chance to restore a Constitutional Republic.

I think the massive population growth has led to a situation where accurately counting such large numbers of people is going to be a problem of its own! By yes, manual is better for things like this if possible.
It could be done using HD cameras and tracking software to count the arms being raised in a way that can be watched back ;)

YES! HD cameras + blockchain recording. Bingo. Election count fraud settled.

NOW...we just got to keep the dead from showing up and the messed-up from voting multiple times.

Like I said . except we build our mind to love the majority. No matter how foccuss you are in electioneering there must be a political foul play.

VERy interesting idea! this might just be the ticket.. except
well
except ill NEVER vote in the first place.. but im sure you can understand why! <3

hehe.. technically, as soon as we vote we are stating that it's ok that 'someone' tells us what to do. it's not the smartest move a human can make! <3

right! and it condones the system.. and totally gives our consent to the atrocities that happen every day.. not to mention utter corruption and.. ooh. boy.. lets not get me going!

Awww.. I was kinda aiming at getting you going. but ok - let's just stick to anarchy then. :)

Yup! This is one of my most passionate use case activism areas. I made a conscous choose NOT to send in my absentee (expat) pen and paper voting form for the 2016 Presidential Election because I just ASSUMED it would be tampered with. One promising thing is that the current administration has expressed a SERIOUS interest in harnessing blockchain in multiple use cases. Since I know that President Trump holds a serius grievance about the election process being tampered with (as those of us "smart" people saw with our own eyes during the election, there is AT LEAST a very REAL chance that we can see blockchain-based voting in the US (and other major western countries) within the next five years. Fingers crossed, as I REFUSE to vote without the protection afforded by the blockchain, but will instead use my activism as my "vote". Good post topic...

I still maintain that I have seen no real evidence that Trump is a genuine challenge to the corrupt system that has been corrupt since it's inception. I am clear that the 'presidents' are chosen primarily for their ability to deceive subsets of the population into thinking they are going to get change. The degree to which any one person believes any of them is the degree to which they are in the target demographic for this puppet.

Politicians saying what you want to hear can actually extend to them saying that they will smash the system. Actions speak louder than words.

Its true. Just that the whole system is kinda too bad.

So it appears we will have to POLITELY disagree. I have reason to believe that Trump is going to make MUCH more significant change than post presidents. We are only getting warmed up. When I look at what he's ALREADY done, on numerous fronts, (ex. the most recent passing of "Right To Try" medical regulation) is definitely something I can admire. If he follows through on the interest that he (and many of his advisers) has declared - about having a sincere interest in implementing blockchain technology for various important public institutional functions (ex. voting) then I will be happy to settle for a "less bad" president, which in my opinion, can't be NEARLY as bad is the former handful we've had in there at the helm. I am sure there is some validity to your claim that politicians are "all talk". But perhaps the new disruptive technologies which we are all working to advance will add a new dimension of transparency to the politcal process, and make politics "less weighted upon human flaw". I am a REASONABLE Trump supporter, and I will continue to be as long as he continues to make ACTIONABLE progress on issues which I believe are important to the progress of the United States, and the world for that matter, as I am an expat, and have had the opportunity to see MUCH WORSE cultures - and their political institutions - and so feel some responsibility to be an ambassador of sorts to try and help facilitate some changes in parts of the world that are UBER-dysfunctional. That's all I can say on the subject for now...

Real change happens locally. Right to try had already been passed in 40 states. Congress and the President were just catching up. https://fee.org/articles/the-right-to-try-war-was-actually-won-on-the-state-level/ I sincerely hope Trump can make some real change. Deregulation is another area he has being doing well. Stopping wars he still needs to work on. I will give me credit where credit is due but will call out his idiotic policies just the same.

Hey @girthbomb! Great to see that there are others here on Steemit who are taking the more REALISTIC "cautious openmindedness" in relation to Trump and his administration. Over the years (like many others - perhaps it's also just part of the aging process) I have gravitated more towards this "cautious openmindedness" approach in basically all of my affairs. It's the safest approach in my opinion. Part of this perspective involves focusing on RESULTS (that is, what people DO, and NOT just what they SAY). "The proof is in the pudding" as the old saying goes. But I think most "smart" people are AT LEAST able to realize that Trump (and his ADMINISTRATION - "no man is an island" after all) are shaking things up (in primarily a "good way" in my opinion) and producing some REAL RESULTS - and some quite impressive ones at that. You make the good point that "real change happens locally", but I would just EXTEND that by saying that there can be SOME INFLUENCE from the non-local level which then makes it EASIER to produce the results wanted on the local level. This plays out, especially, in many of the blockchain tools which the Trump administration has - on NUMEROUS occasions now - FORMALLY expressed interest in. Here is one of those actual articles which I shared from the "Bitcoins & Gravy " Twitter account I admin a few months ago ( Twitter : https://twitter.com/BitcoinsNGravy , Steemit : @bitcoinsandgravy Article : https://www.coindesk.com/trump-white-house-doubles-us-commitment-blockchain/) I tweet out as many of these as I can, because I believe that blockchain tech is going to be a MAJOR game-changer for a MULTITUDE of government-related, and social, issues - and especially so if the Trump administration (and any future administrations) is in full support of it. People can argue all day about who is REALLY in control of the US (and other) governments. But by focusing on the RESULTS produced by an administration, and the REAL-WORLD ethical effects of this results, I think the "open-minded" person living in this chaotic time CAN achieve SOME sort of sense of the "method to the madness" in ALL SORTS of social, political, economic, etc. issues of our time - INCLUDING that of the Trump administration, of course. All I will say in conclusion is that I GENERALLY like MOST of what I see being done by the Trump administration. That is, there is a LOGIC to the decisions and effects which AT LEAST give me a sense that RELATIVELY COMPETENT people are steering the ship right now. That is something that I DID NOT have in basically ALL of the previous administration which I lived through since my birth in 1976. Hope this comment s well received, and inspired some thoughts/ideas/etc. PEACE...

Thanks for the links to the additional articles. It is a very fascinating ride we are currently with blockchain growth. The more we realize, we don't need centralized authority the better off we will be. Being able to achieve consensus without violence is where the technology is heading and that will be a great thing.

Hmmm!!! As if you know what we are going through all in name of their uncommon Democracy.
Well as for me. "If Government were to fear the citizen, our democracy would have been giving 90% vote. But in this case the reversed is the case."
Even the political affrontice doesn't want a situation where the voters do the counting.

The democracy system would have been a better choice.

As you aggitate using blockchain
Except if we want to politicise it. Since we haven't gotten better solution as a tools to eradicate the corruption in our political system, even the blockchain itself can be tempted.

I think rebuilding our mindset towards the love of our people is the best.

And educating the people about the blockchain is a priority we must take.

The U.S.A. is supposed to be a constitutional republic.

It dosen't seem to be functioning very well, but at least it's not a democracy, ugh.

I'm not really into letting the stupidest person have any say in the laws to which I'm subject , or in being subject to any but the law of nature.

Yes, love is the actual answer - it must not be bypassed or overlooked!

Nice meeting political advocate.

I explored this idea once about the merits of blockchain technology and means of mass adoption.

The use of Smart contracts and transparency will do wonders in minimizing if not outright making it impossible to cheat especially if everyone has a copy of the chain and any attempt of tampering will be seen.

The idea though of corrupting the witnesses is a valid concern.

Great article.

Thanks! We can all be witnesses! ;)

God bless you sir, this seems to me a welcoming idea

For instance now, Nigeria celebrated her democracy just last week, I never thought blockchain could provide a solution to the corruption in the public election like this before I made the post to condemned the celebration of slavery called democracy.

If they can at least make it open to us like this, it would be so difficult for rigging of election. If we can all be doing the counting on our own one after the other, it would be so awesome.

But, the problem now is, this people would not want to go that way once they know it would take power from the hand of the minority and give it to the majority as democracy promised.

I celebrate Sierra Leone for leading the whole world in the part of light like this, I hope other nations followed.

I do not trust the elections because they are subject to a lot of forgery
Really great article

Well, as you say in your article, the people who are running the nodes can be corrupt OR corrupted during or after a count to produce another result. How about the question of privacy though? I think most people would like to vote without anyone else being able to see it publicly! Thoughts?

It's a valid concern - however, I think it's fair to say that if you are frightened about other people knowing what you are trying to force onto them via your vote - then maybe you need to either not force things on other people or look for ways to bring balance to life that don't cause such problems ;)

Well, for what it's worth, I agree with you. That's why I don't vote myself lol.

Absolutely.. Well there is no doubt that current electoral voting even an electronic one is a hoax... There is no doubt.. It is a nice idea to use blockchain technology instead.. But the implementation would take time I guess...

realmente muy buena publicacion

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