Can Blockchain Technology Put an End to Electoral Fraud?

There’s been a huge buzz around blockchain technology lately, and it seems the whole world’s catching the fever. With all the hype that Web3 is getting, it doesn’t look like the global buzz will end anytime soon.

Blockchain technology first came into the limelight in 2008. That was the year it was introduced to the world as the technology behind Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Since then, many people have touted blockchain’s potential to power other platforms beyond cryptocurrencies and financial transactions. Most especially, there are many who speculate that blockchain’s transparent, distributed feature will be useful in electronic voting. Implementing this, they theorise, will make elections more secure, free of malpractice and rigging – and ultimately – inclusive.

But, in reality, how feasible is this? Is blockchain really effective in preventing electoral fraud? Will it be applicable and useful in all societies?

What is a Blockchain?    

A blockchain is a type of digital, distributed ledger technology. In other words, it’s a shared database of transactions that is available for inspection by every user, and is not controlled by any central body. Rather, the technology is powered by peers (or nodes) that are available on the network for the verification, processing, and recording of all kinds of transactions that occur on the system.

One of the strongest features of the technology is that, while the ledger is accessible to everyone on the network for viewing and verification, it is immutable. This implies that it cannot be altered or changed, and is therefore, highly secure and anonymised. Since “blocks” in the “chain” (comprising millions of nodes) are linked simultaneously, any attempt to modify a block will be seen by every participant on the network. Because of this, the network provides a fully accessible history of all transactions.

That’s not all. Blockchain is almost incorruptible. Its database is encrypted and decentralised, and each transaction is easily verifiable. Since the network is distributed (doesn’t exist in one place), its verified records of transactions cannot be successfully infiltrated, altered or attacked by a single party. This is possible because there are “validators”, who are users with appropriate rights in the shared ledger responsible for verifying and storing each transaction on the network.

These aforementioned features and merits are what make many believe that blockchain technology could be largely useful in online voting. This emerging technology, they believe, will go a long way to prevent different kinds of electoral fraud and mitigate many other voting challenges.

But, how?

Blockchain Technology and Elections

Although blockchain was initially exclusive to financial transactions and cryptocurrencies, its adaptability goes beyond that sphere. The technology can also extend to all kinds of data exchange and transmission. At its core, it’s a secure peer-to-peer platform with features that border on security, anonymity, and scalability. These attributes are what make blockchain useful in electoral processes.

Each vote is significant and important. More than just a ballot, it represents one voter. By extension, it’s someone’s right to participate in an election. Hence, it’s a distinct, non-transferable token that represents each individual in an electoral process. In essence, disenfranchising a single voter illegally is tantamount to denying them of their rightful part in any voting process.

Many pain points in traditional voting systems are due to unmitigated challenges, and the lack of faith of the voters in the whole process. Even in the developed countries, elections are hardly devoid of complaints arising from voters and candidates who grumble about perceived anomalies and malpractices. It’s worse in developing societies where participants – voters and candidates – nitpick about unresolved hassles that impede fairness and freeness in many public elections. Such challenges include security gaps, unresponsive and outdated equipment, voter apathy, geographical issues, vandalism, missing ballots, vote buying, and so on.

Even when elections were conducted online, some of the previously-outlined challenges still remained. Worse, there have been claims of compromise due to hacker attacks, intrusions, terminal crashes, duplicity, and impersonation.

What improvements do blockchain-based voting systems offer? 

Compared to legacy voting systems and existing e-voting applications, a blockchain-based voting application offers better security. Not only is the infrastructure almost impenetrable, it’s also fault-tolerant and robust because it’s decentralised. Even if a hacker successfully penetrates the network and accesses the terminal – which is almost impossible – they’ll be unable to alter the linked nodes in the chain. This means that an anomaly can easily be detected and reported.

The anonymity feature is equally significant, and it promotes integrity and transparency. Each voter can simply cast their vote anonymously with their unique token ID without revealing their identity or choice candidate to the public. With that, election officials can easily collate submitted votes and electoral data without fear of compromise or tampering. Since each ID is linked to a single vote only, the voters, the contestants, their parties, and even observers can view in real-time what is happening as votes are delivered and counted. With this, everyone can have full confidence in the fact that the election is devoid of all forms of fraud.

Building on the foregoing, voter apathy will be greatly reduced. It’s common to see many eligible voters refusing to participate in elections because of their indifference and lack of faith in the electoral bodies. So many turn a blind eye to elections as they believe that their votes won’t count. In other places, participation is hampered by geographical limitations, difficult terrain, and security challenges.

However, with a blockchain-based voting app, all a voter needs is an Internet-enabled mobile or computer where they can pre-register and cast their ballot from anywhere in the world. Voters may be required to use their devices’ biometric fingerprint readers or facial recognition option for authentication before they can cast their votes on the app. They are assigned a unique token that can only be used on the network once and once alone in each voting round. That means no more long queues. No more time wasting. No more delays due to logistic or technical hitches.

When the elections are over, voters get to view what each candidate scored, and how the votes were cast. This will go a long way to restore the confidence of the voters in electoral processes and the coordinating institutions. Not just that, geographical location will no longer be a barrier, and collation of votes and announcement of final results will become easier.

Presently, Vote Australia Inc. is pushing for a blockchain-based digital voting system in Australia. The organisation believes that if the technology could work for pecuniary transactions, then, it can also drive “quick, efficient, safe and secure” elections. In its words, “Blockchain can help make Australian elections more reliable, fair, safe and secure. It’s all in the architecture and how it works.”

In the United States, the State of West Virginia deployed a blockchain-based mobile voting app for a general election in 2018. The app was exclusive to troops and their dependents living overseas. The same was done in Denver where voters in the diaspora used the same platform to cast their ballot in the May 2019 municipal elections. Utah County also proposed to use the Voatz mobile voting app for disabled voters in the November 2019 municipal primary election.

While mixed reactions trailed these applications – and reasonably so – it’s great to know that there are huge prospects in the technology. One of the biggest wins of the blockchain-based mobile voting application in the U.S. is that it has positively influenced voter turnout and inclusion. Expat voters who may have otherwise been exempted from voting had a shot at casting their ballots after identity verification.

What does the future hold for blockchain-based voting?

For now, we can only hope that governments around the world will be able to tap into the vast advantages of blockchain-based voting systems offered to conduct free, fair, credible, and inclusive elections in the future.