Estimator scientist Ronald Rivest has said that blockchain is not the right applied science for voting, although it can find proper application in a number of other areas.

Rivest delivered his opinion at the RSA Security Briefing, held in San Francisco earlier this week, technology-focused news outlet ITWire reported on February. 28. Rivest — who is a cryptography expert and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Engineering science — chosen voting an interesting problem that requires a more stricter arroyo compared to many existing security applications. He said:

"Blockchain is the incorrect security applied science for voting. I like to call up of it as bringing a combination lock to a kitchen fire or something like that. It's good on its ain for certain things simply it's non adept for voting."

"We need software independence"

According to Rivest, voting is an area that does non require hi-tech to work, and anonymity and secret ballots only complicate the process of inspect. "Blockchain engineering really doesn't fit for a couple of reasons. 1 is that we have learned nosotros demand software independence," Rivest said and farther added:

"And if yous do use some technology, use the paper ballots to check on it and you lot can practice very well. We telephone call this software independence, then you don't need to trust the results because yous trust some software. That's a dangerous path to go down if you don't need to become down that path and with voting nosotros actually don't need to."

Elaborating further on the matter, Rivest compared blockchain with garbage stored in forever. "One time they've had the chance to manipulate your vote, it goes on the blockchain and never gets changed over again," he concluded.

E-voting comes under criticism

Rivest'south speech came on the heels of the Iowa Autonomous Caucus scandal, when a mobile software application that had been devised to help calculate the total number of votes in the voting reportedly malfunctioned, resulting in the Democratic Party having to filibuster its public reporting of the results.

Following the event, blockchain-based applications were heavily criticised past regulators, with many political commentators and media analysts speaking out against mobile- and blockchain-based voting technology.

In the meantime, companies on the forefront of blockchain technology realize the potential of the products they are developing to non but transform the global economy, but besides the way voters cast their ballots. Most recently, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab unveiled a new type of a blockchain-based voting machine using Polys, the system released back in November 2022 designed to exist an constructive and secure way to vote online.

Earlier in February, India'due south Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that the country will shortly be able to bandage votes from outside their urban center of registration thanks to a blockchain-based arrangement. With this move, the government hopes to increase voter turnout.