Blockchain & Elections (Venezuela Chapter)
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Elecciones en Venezuela
Since 1998 in Venezuela, the following electoral processes have been carried out:
- 6 Presidential.
- 5 Parliamentarians.
- 7 Regional.
- 4 Municipal.
- 6 Referendums.
The democratic character of our population is exalted with these figures.
Although not everything is as it seems.
Although not everything is as it seems.
Most of these processes have been overshadowed by the specter of unconstitutionality and fraud, calling into question the legitimacy of their authorities and representatives.
Currently the government faces the rejection of the international community in general for the presidential inauguration that will take place on January 10, 2019, where a new period of six years would begin.
CNE National Electoral Council.
It is the public power in charge of the convocation, execution and totalization of votes. Since the year 200 the CNE has an automated voting system. This system includes voting machines that are installed in the electoral centers where citizens must go to exercise their right throughout the national territory and in the corresponding embassies outside our borders. Each machine totals the suffrages corresponding to a polling station once the process in said polling station has concluded. These data are then transmitted to the centralized totalization center based in Caracas.
The software of the machines is not publicly auditable, so what actually happens there is not the domain of all Venezuelans. These machines are a kind of "black box".
The software of the machines is not publicly auditable, so what actually happens there is not the domain of all Venezuelans. These machines are a kind of "black box".
"Recently, when I began to have knowledge of what the Blockchain was, the idea that my country's choices could be made on this type of platform did not take long to come to my mind.
"Recently, when I began to have knowledge of what the Blockchain was, the idea that my country's choices could be made on this type of platform did not take long to come to my mind.
It's possible?
What are the characteristics that we look for in any electoral process?
- Make it fast.
- That provides security and inviolability of the data.
- Let it be distributed.
- That maintains the confidentiality of the elector.
- Make it transparent and auditable.
All these aspects give us the necessary confidence that we all need to be certain that the results correspond to the popular will.
"Precisely these are the characteristics of the Blockchain."
So, what prevents the adoption of this technology for the realization of elections?
I guess the answer is that there are too many interests in conflict.
But is it really possible to hold elections in Blockchain?
I guess the answer is that there are too many interests in conflict.
But is it really possible to hold elections in Blockchain?
"The answer is a total and overwhelming YES."
Voting in Blockchain is an alternative to paper ballots and electronic voting machines.
Changing voting to distributed accounting books could affect voting procedures in many ways. On the one hand, it can increase the number of active voters by eliminating the need to go to a physical voting center. In addition, it could increase security and reduce fraud in the voting system, the results are available to all, although they are still anonymous.
Since the results will be in a decentralized ledger, voting itself is the only part that requires human intervention. Therefore, the counting and distribution of the results would be done through Blockchain.
It would be necessary to decide about Governance.
As we know, block chains are governed by consensus protocols. These rules established in Intelligent Contracts define what changes can be made in the database, who can make them, when they can be made, etc. One of the most important aspects of the consensus protocol is the rules that govern how and when the blocks are added to the chain. In this way, an unalterable time line of events must be established, which all nodes must agree on, which can not be subject to censorship.
The proposed protocol would change the paradigm in which we trust a single organization, such as a government or a company. In current electoral systems, voters must rely on the voter registration records provided by the voter organization and it is difficult, if not impossible, for a single voter to demonstrate that there is no fraud. On the other hand, when implementing Blockchain, the only work of the organization is to send a response based on the census. With the proposed system, voters have to identify their right to vote proving their authenticity. Then, by publishing both sides of the list, the voters know that the given vote is validated and auditable in a unique way.
Benefits.
Public elections are one of the bases on which representative democracy is built. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that governments and organizations can successfully hold representative, non-fraudulent elections. Current methods, especially those based on electronic platforms, provide unsatisfactory levels of transparency to voters, which undermines the trust that voters have that the votes they cast were the same as that counted by the electoral officials.
Instead of reverting to traditional and inefficient offline strategies, emerging technologies such as Blockchain should be adopted to help solve these problems of transparency and trust, contribute to the common problems of electronic voting and also promote the transparency of elections, increase audibility, improve voter confidence and, in general, strengthen democracy.
Traditional databases are maintained by a single organization, and that organization has complete control, including the ability to manipulate storage, censor valid changes to data, or aggregate data fraudulently.
The Blockchain's decentralized database is managed by a computer network where no node is responsible for storing or maintaining the database. Any computer can enter or leave this network at any time without endangering the integrity or availability of the network. Any computer can rebuild the database from scratch by downloading the blockchain and processing the audit trail.
Accessibility
With the development of applications that could run on mobile devices, voters would not have to spend hours in long queues to have their turn to participate. In the same way, people with physical limitations who could not move easily would be benefited.
Although public voting centers could also be maintained where citizens can exercise their right through voting machines.
And you could even pay via email.
Security
Unlike normal servers where stored data can be hacked or manipulated, the data in a chain of blocks is kept in blocks on the computers of all network participants. Therefore, it is impossible to hack it because, to do so, you would have to hack all the machines in the network. It is also impossible to steal it because it is encrypted.
Anonymity
The anonymity of the voter is assured because the transparent algorithms would run at the top of the block chain.
Velocity
The results would be updated in real time and a panorama would be obtained without speculations on the development of the electorate's tendency.
Not everything is Positive
The scandals that overshadowed the growing success of Bitcoin and Blockchain, constitute a great propaganda barrier that can affect adoption. ICOs that promised what they never fulfilled. Indiscriminate Proliferation of altcoins. They are factors that could be used by detractors of technology or by indiscriminate politicians who do not like a transparent process.
The software developers have to act with caution. In his hands is the future implementation of this technology, since an error could tarnish the good image needed to achieve the most important thing: "trust". Certification must be achieved by official bodies such as the United States Election Assistance Commission for example.
The identification mechanisms must have high safety standards. A simple KYC process would not be enough. It is essential to incorporate another technology, which allows verifying the identity of a voter through facial recognition or other biometric devices.
The adoption of technology would also be another factor to overcome. Even in Venezuela, a large part of the population does not have access to an intelligent device. And people over 50 have a great refusal to use a computer. This would lead to assisted voting and with it, coercion.
If any malware on a voter's device alters a vote before it reaches a blockchain, the immutability of the blockchain would not provide the desired integrity.
"It seems to me that the first step to improve the elections is that the people in charge of making the change wish to have a change. Only then can well-intentioned people and passionate technologists influence the design of our future elections."
"It seems to me that the first step to improve the elections is that the people in charge of making the change wish to have a change. Only then can well-intentioned people and passionate technologists influence the design of our future elections."
This initiative is relatively recent, but we already have enterprising companies that are taking big steps so that in the near future everything will be a reality. Here I leave you interesting links.
https://blocklr.com/blockchain/icon-blockchain-seoul-how-decentralized-voting-works/
https://www.boule.one/
https://www.agora.vote/
https://www.democracy.earth/
https://voatz.com/
https://followmyvote.com/
https://votem.com/
Thanks for call me 😊
And cool, the @crypto.piotr technique began to be adopted by you @juanmolina 😊😊
hehehehe ... we must imitate the good examples. Do not you think?
haaaaa a, @crypto.piotr also does the SP delegation program, don't you want to do that?
When I have enough SP I will do it pleased.
But currently... ;-(
Yeah cool I agree with you.. Keep smile 😆
Like I mentioned before - I always enjoy reading your publications @juanmolina
Im only not sure, if those informations are important mostly for Venezuelians or people from outside your country?
Does it really matter at all to anyone what is happening in just 2 days?
I think trust towards administration must come first. Otherwise nothing will change. Blockchain is at the end of the day just a tool. Very transparent, but still - only a tool.
Also Im wondering - if Maduro would fail - do you guys have any other option at all?
Yours
Piotr
Thanks for being so attentive, appreciated @crypto.piotr.
What I propose in my publication is like a window of hope. Some day in my country we will have free and transparent elections again. Then it would be wonderful if they were supported by a blockchain platform.
This could happen with another administration. Not with the current one.
I think it would be possible to use the Blockchain for voting, even here on Steemit I can only vote for your post once.
You sent me a transfer 4 times. Since 2 were for .003 SBD each, I will return .006 SBD. Saludos!
Hello dear @onnovocks.
Oh what a shame! Excuse my clumsiness with the transfers please.
Thanks or comment...
Same happens when @crypto.piotr sends me a transfer. Talvez pasa la misma cosa?
We'll have to find out what happens. Thanks for the refund.
Well, this is a concept worth considering, @juanmolina, and you have written about it quite well. But I do have my doubts in certain areas. Most obviously, when you say-
Therefore, it is impossible to hack it because, to do so, you would have to hack all the machines in the network.
I think that's false logic. I very much fear that it is in fact possible to hack all the machines in the network, or at least it is within the realm of possibility, which means I wouldn't count on it.
To put it bluntly, the US government is Venezuela's worst enemy. And Uncle Sam has at his disposal computing resources beyond imagination, hacking resources beyond compare.
For all their obvious limits, I think old fashioned paper ballots are still best, at least for now. You pointed out the issues with access to computers, but a paper ballot is a thing anyone can use, and anyone can understand. And they cannot be hacked.
Que Maduro es un boludo corrupto, sí, obvio. Pero es igualmente obvio que la oposición son no mas una manada de marionetas yanquis, que no?
I agree with you friend @redpossum
The ballots would be something that anyone could have access to. And it will truly remain the basic method par excellence. We can stay for always doing things the same way or we can get closer to the technology. No system is infallible. Not even the ballots.
Thanks for reading and commenting. I appreciate it.
Certainly paper ballots have their own problems; see the US Presidential election of 2000 in Florida for a prime example. But the root of the problem there was still human corruption.
Jeb Bush was the governor of Florida, and arranged that the ballots should be so confusing that hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, accidentally voted for the wrong candidate. The beneficiary of this confusion was his brother George W Bush, who then became President. This meant there was a Bush in the White House, and Dick Cheney was VP, during 9/11, and the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The root cause of this was not paper ballots, per se, but the essential and shameless corruption of the US political system. When the system itself is so profoundly corrupt, the method of voting cannot save the nation. Nothing short of revolution can save a nation in such straits.
As an ironic footnote to that Florida fiasco, and an example of how many people thought they were voting for one candidate, and actually cast their votes for another - Pat Buchanan, who was widely derided as an "anti-Semite", actually won a majority of votes in several heavily Jewish districts. Oy gevalt!
So the great weakness is not in the implemented system but in human nature and its insatiable cravings for power and domination. But... why?
Thank you very much dear @redpossum for your amazing comment!
Hey @juanmolina, thanks for the invitation to comment brother. };)
But seeing that you already have enough words to read and to which you have yet to reply in this post. I'm gonna make my comment and state my opinion on this subject rather short.
As for Democracy & Popular Elections goes. With Blockchain or without Blockchain...
¡A proper EDUCATION of the populace is the key here!
Hello brother @por500bolos.
I was waiting to receive your comment. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Glad to help mate. :)
I hope that despite the short of my comment, it had been useful & informative in some way.
Btw, did you noticed that the video has subtitles in spanish too? Hahaha
I welcome the fact that "closed caption" exists in these videos. I had to see it a couple of times. I found it didactic.
Incredibly, all this happened more than 1500 years ago and it is still happening in the same way.
Philosophy, Democracy, Demagogy.
Yep! only 1500 years trying to learn the lesson. ¡Go figure!
Let's see if now the humanity is able to grasp the teachings in half that time at least. LoL
Thanks for sharing this post.
It really is a great idea, innovative for others. But it would be necessary a great education campaign in this new technology, many people in Venezuela do not have direct access to this technology, (maybe it is not inconvenient) Venezuela has been exposed to a lot of situations that have undermined the confidence of the Venezuelan and having no knowledge about the operation of the blockchain this would generate a climate of distrust because we would again fall into the temptation to think (for many) that the government has control of all this.
It's a very good idea and I think it's necessary, but I do not see the government making use of it knowing that they do not have absolute control of the results.
Always interesting what you write, congratulations and blessings for you.
Excellent comment I completely share your point of view dear @fucho80
Trust is the key.
Thanks for your good wishes. I appreciate these.
Hi @juanmolina, thanks for the invitation to comment.
The question I ask is, when voting is allowed from one's home or mobile, how do we address the issue of real coercion or purported coercion, i.e are the voters voting based on their freewill or are they being coerced into voting for someone? It is important for elections to be conducted in such a manner that it is not only clean but is seen to be clean. The fact that people can vote from their home or mobile, without more, immediately renders it into the category of "not seen to be clean" although in fact it maybe clean.
After reading your article, I checked online for electronic voting issues and came across a wiki article on EVM in India. Although the EVMs are not the same as blockchain voting system, you may profitably look at the article for system agnostic logistic issues that you may encounter.
Here is the link to the article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_India.
Hopefully it is of some help.
Blessings.
Regards appreciated @devann
I agree with your assessment. This freedom lends itself to coercion. This can come from relatives, friends (enemies), co-workers ...
As an alternative to this situation, it occurs to me that in order to maintain its solemnity, it is followed by the act of voting in authorized centers, with all the protocol that merits. But that the entire accounting process will remain in the books of a solid blockchain.
Yes, it looks like authorized voting centers could solve the problem. Additionally, since it is on blockchain, even authorized mobile voting vans could be added to augment the voting process for the invalids, old people and voters in the remote areas.
How much creativity!
So we agree that voting using blockchain is possible.
Hopefully in the near future all this will crystallize.
Thanks friend @devann.
Hi @juanmolina,
Thank you for this interesting article. In Switzerland we are working for several years to develop a possibility to give our votes online. The proposed solution is based on cryptography and blockchain. However there is no concesus yet over this solution. There are some real security concerns. The blockchain maybe quite a safe technology in itself but the danger lies where the data is entered into the blockchain.
Democratical processes are ill these days
When I see your country but also many other countries through the world, I think that often so called democratical process are been taken as hostages by the governments in place. It seems that they have little difficulty in rigging the results of votations and elections. By the way they give themselves a certain legitimacy in the country and also abroad. If people claim that the elections where rigged, they answer that they simply cannot accept defeat.
The result is that people loose their trust in democratic institutions. The society gets polarized and populists have an easy play.
Democraty in the age of the blockchain
I believe that in order for the public to find their trust back into democratical processes and institutions, it would be necessary to adapt these processes to make them transparent and accessible for everybody. I also believe that the blockchain might be a tool that would come in handy in this process. But it is not simply a matter of technology, it is the whole processes that should be thought through. Why do we need to elect people that we hardly know? Do we still need political parties? Do we need politicians at all? Couldn't the people decide directly with electronical votations on any subject and have a government that simply caries out the decision of the people?
Best regards,
Achim
Hello dear @achim03, I appreciate your comments.
These are the questions that we will continue to ask ourselves always, or at least for a few more years. And we will continue to do with blockchain or without it.
I have always thought that everything that involves a computer is vulnerable to modification. There are high levels of security in the systems but every day we look for ways to make them more impenetrable.
The blockchain provides the opportunity to make the counting of votes more transparent. It is auditable, it is visible to everyone. But to achieve its adoption in terms of voting, there is still a long way to go and the biggest obstacle to overcome is to win the voter's trust.
Interesting subject and I agree with you, but if it comes to voting.. what makes you think the present governments do want a honest vote without any corruption?
I can only speak for the country I live in.
As long as I can remember the media always said: what is chosen in the USA will be chosen with us too. It always was kind of like that. Not only in Holland but also in the rest of western Europe (how can that be? The countries/people and their habits are completely different from the USA).
We once had an election by computer instead of filling out a paper. Those computers (voting machines) were very expensive and after that not used anymore/thrown away because?
The last elections we had were on the old fashioned way. Volunteers were counting by hand. It is proved that there was fraud (just like in Austria, Germany, France, etc), that votes been thrown away. The people did ask to vote again. This was ignored. It was the first time we did not "vote" the same as the USA. I heard many governments in Europe payed for the elections in the USA and wanted Hillary (they did not tell or ask the people if they agreed with that... so that is in what they invest the taxes while we have more and more foodbanks and poverty is increasing).
By now even the right of a referendum is taken away by our present government. The people do not count! This all is not about the people, but about some people who want to rule the world.
I have big doubts if there is still democracy. If it comes to it we, the people, are just the dumb donkeys pulling the car, making some people rich by keep paying taxes.
Everything nowadays we need to do by computer, via the Internet. Banking, talking to the government, health care insurance, etc etc. We all have to use our social security number for it or... the pincode of your bankaccount!
New rule: if you shop online the shop/seller can have a look at your account (privacy?)
As we all know our government is using the most outdated software there is and it is frequently be hacked.
So... if we are forced to live by the Internet how come we are not allowed to vote that way?
Please do always feel free to contact me. Wish you a happy day.
Thank you for being so sincere and human when writing your thoughts dear @wakeupkitty.
I have identified a lot with your approaches. It is incredible that two nations so distant and apparently so different can have similar political bases.
Exactly that happened in my country a couple of years ago. They put so many obstacles and challenges that seemed impossible to avoid the opposition population. Unlikely conditions that had to be met for a recall referendum to the current president's mandate. After so many humiliations, the organized opposition complied with everything demanded by the electoral body. Then the excuse was that the legal lapses for realization had already expired.
As you very well said, "people do not count!"
I know a dutch organisation "more democracy" is still fighting against the present government because of the right of a referendum, but the government simply changed the law (reason was people voted against Ukraine and also they wanted to change the donor law and did so).
History shows things will change. Even the most easy going people will start fighting if this continues. I hope the governments will be wise enough to avoid a next world war.
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War is the most horrendous thing that can happen. Nobody wins. Only death and devastation remain. With the current weapons the destruction of the planet is imminent. An atomic explosion would remove the globe from its magnetic balance causing tsunamis and earthquakes everywhere.
I do not know what the thinking of the current world "leaders" is. They only think of mass domination. My infinite question: "Why?"
Interesting! Venezuela government, while certain key individuals like the president are keen on experimenting with Blockchain technology. I'm actually doing some research on the regulatory stance towards Cryptocurrency after reading this post! Would definitely nice to see more blockchain technology get used for self-sovereign voting platform
Greetings dear @crypto.hype, sorry for my delay in responding.
The president says he created a cryptocurrency called "Petro". Until now I do not know anyone who has been able to acquire it. It does not appear in any of the recognized exchanges. However, the administration uses it as an economic indicator. In my opinion, it is only to hide big flaws and corruption.
Thanks for your comment.
Politics and blockchain won't mix well and it might cause more problems in my opinion.
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I think blockchain can mix with everything. But politics should not be mixed with anything.
Thank you appreciated @khussan.
Yes politics is evil lolz and my pleasure mate
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But the blockchain is just a software. Politics and software already mixes.
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