A 29-page staff memo has revealed that the U.S. Senate may consider blockchain technology as means for the Senate to conduct remote voting amid the coronavirus pandemic. The staffers also proposed for end-to-end encryption platforms and military-esque air-gapped communication system to facilitate the voting.
The Senate staff memo asserts that through an encrypted distributed ledger, “blockchain can both transmit a vote securely and also verify the correct vote”— noting that the mentioned characteristics have been used to argue for the efficacy of blockchain-based voting systems.
The document adds that “Blockchain can provide a secure and transparent environment for transactions and a tamper-free electronic record of all the votes,” and that “It also reduces the risks of incorrect vote tallies.”
Having said that, the Senate does have concerns over the security of blockchain-based voting. The memo states that “any remote blockchain voting system would need to be properly set up to eliminate any threat of 51 percent attack.” and that there would be “possible vulnerabilities from cryptographic flaws and software bugs.”
[image: Pixabay]
