One of the toughest things for the digital world to manage is keeping a transaction private while at the same time assuring everyone it has accurately recorded the deal. That’s what Virginia Wesleyan University mathematician Audrey Malagon, an adviser to the non-profit group Verified Voting, has been telling legislators. Her concern is with a particular transaction: voting when voters far from their polling place return their ballots electronically. Del. Nick Rush, R-Christiansburg, wants to launch a pilot program to allow military personnel serving overseas to do just that. He’s hoping the same kind of blockchain technology used in cybercurrency dealings will make it easier for them to vote. But the problem, Malagon told legislators, is preserving the anonymity of the voting booth or absentee ballot while letting both voter and vote-counter know that a vote was accurately recorded.
In the cybercurrency world, blockchain technology basically turns electrons into cash. And like a cash deal, you pays your money and you takes your choice.
Voting is different. That’s because there’s a brief gap in time between when you cast a ballot and when it is counted, and an even longer gap between when you vote and any recount of election results. Unlike other electronic documents, after all, you don’t sign your ballot.
Full Article: Electronic return of ballots worries aired – Daily Press.