The new VoteWatcher blockchain voting solution uses paper ballots first and, once scanned, scanned ballots are uploaded to the blockchain for safe keeping. There is no other way to fully ensure a secure election.
NEW YORK – September 05, 2016
Blockchain Technologies Corp. continues to work on its tamper resistant blockchain voting machine dubbed “VoteWatcher.” This work is urgent amid all of the news about elections being considered “critical infrastructure” like the power grid and financial sector, and the FBI reporting hackers broke into multiple state voter registration databases.
The most important thing a voting machine can do is correctly capture the voter’s intent. The second most important thing is that voters trust that their vote is being correctly counted. Even in 2016 with advanced technology being a ubiquitous feature of our daily lives, the inconvenient truth is that the only way to ensure a secure and accurate election is with the use of paper ballots.
“What happens when non technical people want to audit an election conducted using paperless electronic voting machines?” asks Nick Spanos, CEO of Blockchain Technologies Corp. “All you can audit is the code the machine used to calculate the results. There is no original record of the votes cast. Paper ballots are the only way to do a real re-count for the general public.”
Paper ballots are the foundation of the VoteWatcher system developed by Blockchain Technologies Corp. Ballots are fed through a scanner which records voters’ choices. As each ballot is scanned, the data, including a ‘hash’ of the ballot’s image, is uploaded to the blockchain.
The blockchain is a new technology that uses a global network of computers to create timestamped records that cannot be altered or deleted. In other words, once the ballots are scanned the data is “set in stone” — nobody is able to manipulate the results. It is a whole new paradigm of data integrity. However, even with the use of such a cutting edge technology, the original paper ballots filled out by voters remain the ultimate document of record for anyone to recount.
Blockchain Technologies Corp. is based in New York, NY. They bring sorely-needed technology and increased transparency to the election process. The company recently conducted elections at the Libertarian Party state conventions in Texas and New York. The company has a patent pending on blockchain voting systems. For more information visit blockchaintechcorp.com, follow them on Twitter @blocktechcorp, or email info@blocktechcorp.com.
