Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you prove the database hasn't been tampered with?
You can't but how can you prove the blockchain hasn't been tampered with?
Proof of Work, chain of blocks.
USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
31–40 of 390 posts
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#32You could easily replace the word Blockchain in this patent application with the word database and it would all still make sense. Blockchains (I prefer to call them Merkle trees) were invented 40 years ago. The interesting part about cryptocurrency based Blockchains that makes them unforgeable is that they contain proof of work. The work to create an entire Blockchain is equal to the sum of the work contained in each…
How do you prove the database hasn't been tampered with?
[deleted]
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#33Did they also invent a system which protects against voter coercion? If they did not, they might as well stop now since no matter how secure the voting system is its relevance falls down to zero if it is possible for the local gang leader to coerce voters to vote for 'his' candidate - "my man stands behind you to watch you vote for candidate X, if you so much as twitch your little girl gets whipped" (which works but doesn't scale that well) or "you show me proof of you voting for candidate X or we'll burn down your house" (which scales but depends on vote verifiability and as such is rather easily foiled).
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#34Maybe this is a dumb idea, but what if for each election we issued a ballot containing a unique, random, sequential prime number to every registered voter? Then, when counting the votes for each candidate we display the running product of all the primes counted for that candidate as a "checksum", or "check product". This retains privacy while allowing individual voters to easily verify that their vote was counted by…
It allows for verification not only by the voter but also by third parties, doesn't it? That would make it possibly to sell votes (with proof!) or threaten people with repercussions unless they vote a certain way.
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#35Maybe this is a dumb idea, but what if for each election we issued a ballot containing a unique, random, sequential prime number to every registered voter? Then, when counting the votes for each candidate we display the running product of all the primes counted for that candidate as a "checksum", or "check product". This retains privacy while allowing individual voters to easily verify that their vote was counted by…
What is a unique, random, sequential prime and how do you actually vote?
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#36Did they also invent a system which protects against voter coercion? If they did not, they might as well stop now since no matter how secure the voting system is its relevance falls down to zero if it is possible for the local gang leader to coerce voters to vote for 'his' candidate - "my man stands behind you to watch you vote for candidate X, if you so much as twitch your little girl gets whipped" (which works but…
This is a ridiculous argument, because it could just as well apply to mail-in voting as blockchain-based voting. I also think this fear is far overstated (do we have any stories of this happening in the US?) and the more pernicious forms of voter suppression and misinformation are downplayed.
If blockchain systems allow 90% of the populace to vote unencumbered, with a 5% inaccuracy rate (which is far higher than to be expected), that's still more democratic than only 70% voting.
EDIT: There are also ways to guard against voter coercion, for example by allowing "fake votes" to be cast, which if not cast with a certain memo in the transaction, will not be counted. This memo can be a PIN that the user is given as their "legitimate vote PIN", without which the vote would be invalid. When the user wants to appease their "mob boss", they would simply vote with another pin, and the vote would show as having gone through.
This is a surface-level solution, but the technical architecture that can be built to avoid voter coercion in a digital system is far greater than that with mail-in voting. With mail-in voting, your "mob boss" just forces you to tick a box, and put the sealed ballot in the nearest USPS drop box.
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#37Maybe this is a dumb idea, but what if for each election we issued a ballot containing a unique, random, sequential prime number to every registered voter? Then, when counting the votes for each candidate we display the running product of all the primes counted for that candidate as a "checksum", or "check product". This retains privacy while allowing individual voters to easily verify that their vote was counted by…
It allows for verification not only by the voter but also by third parties, doesn't it? That would make it possibly to sell votes (with proof!) or threaten people with repercussions unless they vote a certain way.
what's a bigger threat. "selling votes" or unverifiable election.
i.e. we generally say election fraud is not a huge problem because its too easy to get caught.
if that's the case, one would think any vote buying scheme would be even easier to get caught.
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#38Maybe this is a dumb idea, but what if for each election we issued a ballot containing a unique, random, sequential prime number to every registered voter? Then, when counting the votes for each candidate we display the running product of all the primes counted for that candidate as a "checksum", or "check product". This retains privacy while allowing individual voters to easily verify that their vote was counted by…
It allows for verification not only by the voter but also by third parties, doesn't it? That would make it possibly to sell votes (with proof!) or threaten people with repercussions unless they vote a certain way.
[deleted]
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#39Maybe this is a dumb idea, but what if for each election we issued a ballot containing a unique, random, sequential prime number to every registered voter? Then, when counting the votes for each candidate we display the running product of all the primes counted for that candidate as a "checksum", or "check product". This retains privacy while allowing individual voters to easily verify that their vote was counted by…
Not necessarily a dumb idea, but blockchains provide us an easier way to do something similar.
Every voter would be provided 1 (one) "Right to Vote" token after verifying their identity or receiving it by mail (as is the proposed solution from the USPS). This is arguably just as secure as mail-in voting.
Each voter would also have an "on-chain voter ID", which would just be an anonymous public-private keypair in possession of 1 "Right to Vote" token. This on-chain voter ID would never have to be "mapped" directly to a voter. All that's provisioned by the the election overseers is the right to vote with one account by using this token.
Then, the vote is cast by redeeming this right to vote token, without the voting account ever being linked to a "real identity".
Of course, there are problems here too. Mainly with UX, and then at a low level the hardware used (the general public is very easy to hack if you have nation-state power).
Re: USPS Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System
#40You could easily replace the word Blockchain in this patent application with the word database and it would all still make sense. Blockchains (I prefer to call them Merkle trees) were invented 40 years ago. The interesting part about cryptocurrency based Blockchains that makes them unforgeable is that they contain proof of work. The work to create an entire Blockchain is equal to the sum of the work contained in each…
How do you prove the database hasn't been tampered with?
Make it public and put it in version control, every time a vote is counted you publicise a new revision, everybody with an interest can download regularly and check for tampering?