With the US Presidential campaigns in full effect,t he time has come to reflect on how voting needs to change. Right now, electronic voting is becoming more popular, even though the concept is far from secure. In fact, there are multiple ways to hack electronic voting systems being used in the US right now. A blockchain-based solution should alleviate these concerns, although it remains to be seen if and when that will be integrated.
Although the outcome with either US Presidential candidate will not be beneficial to US citizens, there are valid concerns about the electronic voting system. Cyber attacks against these systems have occurred since 2002, and 14 years later, the situation has not been improved all that much. Instead, it looks like there are more concerned now than ever before.
Electronic Voting Is Not Safe From Harm
So far, several voter registration systems have undergone attacks from online criminals. With over 20 US states being affected by this type of behavior, it is evident regular electronic voting systems are not the solution. After all, if these systems can be hacked, it is also possible the voting will be manipulated even more than otherwise. With little to no transparency, that would make any election outcome very questionable at best.
To make matters worse, some of the more recent attacks resulted in voter data being leaked. While the US government feels confident they know Russia is behind these attacks, the bigger question is how they plan to address these problems. It is important to note the affected systems handle voter registration, rather than the actual ballots themselves. But if even those systems are vulnerable, who knows how easy it is to penetrate other systems?
Granted, the majority of electronic voting systems uses paper backups. Unfortunately, paper is not tamper-proof either, and it would not be the first time a lot of votes “go missing.” Some people may see the paper trail as a solid backup, but that would require more human trust than with electronic voting. Considering what is at stake right now, trust is a very precious commodity.
One potential solution to alleviating all of these concerns is to use blockchain-based voting. A tamper-proof system that is not run by central servers or computers, and removes any central point of attack. Moreover, it would provide more transparency in real-time, rather than forcing people to wait hours – or days – until all votes have been counted.
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