RE: Blockchain & Elections (Venezuela Chapter)
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!