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EXCLUSIVE – With the 2020 presidential election less than a few weeks away – once again burdened with questions and concerns related to electoral security and fraud – the groundbreaking blockchain voting technology is being tested in small pockets of the country.
And Tuesday marked the first time a vote was cast for a U.S. president in a general election using such an app on a personal cell phone, Fox News exclusively learned.
“This is a historic day not just for voting integrity and electoral systems, but for freedom and the republic itself,” Utah resident Josh Daniels told Fox News.
His vote went to former “Mighty Ducks” child actor turned cryptocurrency entrepreneur turned independent 2020 candidate Brock Pierce.
“In true pioneering spirit, Utah County is honored to be the first place to cast a Blockchain vote in a presidential general election,” said Amelia Powers Gardner, Utah County Secretary, who implemented the platform. “Voatz” both as a protection and as a cost. cut measure 20 months ago. “We are proud to lead our state and nation on this innovative and cutting-edge technology.”
Gardner, who has used the system for five elections, says it is “one of the most cost-effective initiatives” her office has taken since she was elected 20 months ago.
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And much of Pierce’s campaign is focused on pushing for technological innovation to solve the plethora of problems nationwide and ensure that America retains its place as the world leader in modernization and advancement across all major sectors.
“The problem with the Internet is that you can copy anything – songs, videos, pictures. Internet technology doesn’t allow information to stay in one place,” Pierce told Fox News. “But the blockchain is a database on the inside and that database is impervious to any kind of duplication, which means it can’t be tampered with and there can only be one version of it, so when it comes to voting, it’s perfectly suited to elections. It ensures the absolute integrity of our elections; it ensures that voters can vote with confidence. “
“In true pioneering spirit, Utah County is honored to be the first place to cast a Blockchain vote in a presidential general election,” said Amelia Powers Gardner, Utah County employee, who implemented the platform. “Voatz” both in terms of security and cost. cut measure 20 months ago.
(Brock Pierce campaign)
Just last week, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI released a joint warning of “advanced persistent threat (APT) actors chaining vulnerabilities – a commonly used tactic that exploits multiple vulnerabilities over the course of a single intrusion – in an attempt to compromise federal and state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) governmental networks, critical infrastructure and electoral organizations. “
CISA stressed that it was “aware of some cases in which this activity involved unauthorized access to electoral support systems; however, to date there is no evidence that the integrity of election data has been compromised ”- at least for now. From Pierce’s point of view, this should all be a thing of the past – at least in the next election – and it’s slowly becoming a staple of the present.
The US electoral system, for the most part, within Pierce’s purview, is still trying to use “20th century solutions to 21st century problems,” but through blockchain, “anyone can vote from their phone, without need to go to a polling booth. “
For one, “Voatz” was recently used in the 2020 Utah State GOP Convention and allowed voting for nearly 4,000 delegates in 40 races, in addition to the Arizona GOP Convention, the South Dakota GOP Convention, and the Michigan Democratic Party Convention.
Childhood actor Brock Pierce’s name will appear in at least 15 states in the 2020 presidential ballot.
(Courtesy Brock Pierce)
It was also used as a temporary mobile voting solution to record votes for US military members deployed from West Virginia in 2018, during the 2017 Tufts Community Union Senate elections in Massachusetts, as well as to authenticate delegate badges. the 2016 Massachusetts Democratic State Convention e
So how does the technology work?
The Voatz app, which requires a phone number, photo ID, and authentication “selfie”, uses both blockchain technology and biometrics to verify a voter’s identity. A secure token is issued by activating the fingerprint and, once a vote is submitted, it is printed and inserted into a collecting machine for tabulation.
“Voatz is a mobile election platform that allows non-voting groups, including foreign nationals, deployed military and people with disabilities, to vote,” a company spokesperson told Fox News. “It is the only platform designed to meet the four criteria required for mobile voting: security, identity confirmation, accessibility and audibility.”
At the DEF CON Hacking Conference Voting Village, Fox News shows a prototype of a research project that could combine blockchain technology and embedded paper cards with codes that can be scanned digitally.
The spokesperson also stressed that “all ballots submitted are eligible to undergo a post-election audit by a public citizen, in which anyone can participate as a reviewer, hosted by the National Cybersecurity Center.”
However, it is one of several blockchain applications popping up in the United States in what many entrepreneurs envision is a critical step in ensuring fair and fraud-free elections. According to data compiled by Pitchbook, a capital marketing firm, more than $ 420 million has been poured into at least 27 electoral tech startups by 88 investors since the 2016 election, intending to revolutionize the US voting system.
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Proponents of blockchain voting modes are also quick to point out that it is a pro for both sides of the political corridor and that it will ultimately lead to increased voter numbers and civic engagement across the board given its affordability.
The average voter turnout in the United States for general elections over the past five decades has hovered around 52%, with local government elections often below 10%.
“Accessibility will drive engagement. It will allow many more people to participate in the democratic process, “Pierce said.” And it’s a bipartisan solution: all parties want security and all parties want more voters and more commitment. “
And in terms of ensuring that those without telephones or in lower socio-economic community sectors, Pierce stressed that there is no need for an “all or nothing” approach and that electronic voting should be used in addition to traditional polling stations.
However, switching to blockchain – and, in due course, thin rectangles that slip into your pocket – to exercise our constitutional right is something that is met with skepticism and security concerns from some experts, who say some of the technology touted simply isn’t. . there still.
“As common sense dictates, hand in hand with improvements in technology and information security, hackers have started to get more creative with the scams and hacks they perform, and blockchain breaches have been notoriously gutted with hacks.” said Carl Herberger, vice president of security services at CyberSheath. “Thanks to these hacks, we have learned that you may be a click away from the malware that will damage your files and crypto-assets. A blockchain hack could lead to much more systemic and large-scale collapses than a hacked one. time. Blockchain makes the whole system insecure. “
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Yet the likes of Pierce still ask to differ, stressing that it is the inevitable way of the future.
“Nobody wants to activate this technology in 2024; we will start seeing it a lot more in 2021 and 2022. I think by 2026 we will see it all over the world: people will be voting on their phones, “he added.” And people can trust the system. Right now, many people don’t have that faith. This technology can restore it. ”
