This can be done. Using blockchain technology to run elections the results will be transparent and unalterable.

Obviously, TPTB do not want anything like that.

Everyone has a SSN anyway, using that plus and algorithm you would be able to vote, check your vote, and remain anonymous. (as long as you don't give out your SSN, which is obvious.)

So, the "secret" component to this cryptographic exchange is a 9 digit number that follows a known algorithm. That's insecure. Impersonation attacks would be cake.

Hey I'm not saying it would be easy. But if we tackled the problem together we could find a solution. I am just using SSN's as an example that we all have a number attached to our name. We could use an algorithm where, say for example (Name + SSN + DOB + Optional10digitcode) = Unique ID

I'm no cryptography expert, however I'm sure a real one could easily make a system that is sensible and secure.

Identity theft will never go away, we just have to make it more difficult. But I think that if we already have a number attached to us we may as well use it at a component for encryption. Or maybe everyone gets a "Vote code" where they have say 15 digits.

I just don't think its impossible. Difficult definitely. But not impossible. I feel like the guys at /r/crypto would have something to say about this.

It should be a multi-step process.

Registering to vote should include checking your ID, including your SSN. It should be required prior to every vote, but that wouldn't be necessary. An agent of the county/state/etc. would then be allowed to produce a certificate for that user, including a public key for voting, and a verifiable signature to ensure that a valid agent is legally issuing certs.

From this point on, private information used for identity, is no longer needed. Your vote shouldn't be traceable to an actual individual, just to a valid voter on the voting system.

I feel like the guys at /r/crypto would have something to say about this.

Yes we would, and do.

Interesting. I feel like this is a very important topic tho, my generation is probably going to adopt this at some point, in one form or another. Regardless of how complicated it becomes it can't end up being crappier than the system we have today. First past the post is such bullshit.

Those who create or monitor the database would have enormous power and ability to manipulate the end results

Well the public's popular vote doesnt really matter, Clinton is proving that by swooning the delegates in order to combat the grassroots movement of Sanders. Hell G.W. Bush did the same thing, it would be a non-point to tally popular vote.

this could be done on the bitcoin blockchain without any risk of manipulation, just one possibility that would avoid that.

this is true, great idea. Could a Leyman be able to use this?

without any risk of manipulation

Well, assuming 51% of the nodes aren't conspiring to misdirect the blockchain progression, your statement is accurate.

it would cost many billions of dollars to even attempt to, for a few blocks, to temporarily influence this and it would likely not take any hold at all.

What if you already had, say, 58% of the internet under your thumb (and they didn't know it?)

I would wager that this would shift elections directly to the intelligence community and big crime... which is actually where it probably has always been...

Still, a Sybil attack might be noticed on that grand of a scale, but I think the CIA/NSA could pull it off. Isn't the current version of BitCoin still using hashcash with sha1?

the % of the internet under control would not matter, just the hashing power. They are using the SHA-256 algorithm

Republican who have the money couldn't chest. They'd lose elections.

The idea is that you can check your vote, and if it's not right, then there should be a separate mechanism for reporting the discrepancy with a screenshot. If enough people notice there's a problem, then it creates civil unrest.

Yes the argument goes, "well what if they just show you want you want to see".

That's a valid point. They have QUANTUMINSERT technology already that can manipulate in realtime the results of a request (clicking in browser), and give you something different.

Whose to say the database doesn't record your vote and then save a differnet vote as well on the backend? This is again, a valid concern.

This is why it is required that we have 3 or more external mirrors outside of the jursidiction of the US for managing this database--both friend and foe. We need russia, france and germany for example managing the database, NOT the CIA.

Also we have a mechanism that publicizes your vote as anonymous into a public space. So user #4495945 voted for SANDERS, user #3849839 voted for TRUMP, etc. That way, you can talk to your friends and give them a stub with your id number and ask them to look up your vote to verify.

This is a low-tech P2P approach at verifying a tally. And it addresses the "backend corruption" problem.

And it addresses the "backend corruption" problem.

It does address it but this model requires "trusted friends." Probably not a problem, as I'd be more than willing to verify a stranger's vote, honestly.

You should do some research on blockchain technologies and voting systems using the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains to do exactly this; p2p, using a decentralized network of computers all reaching consensus in real time. Very exciting

Hold up. Before everyone gets too excited about Ethereum understand that it is a private organization, much like the current monetary system.

And it's still in its infancy. We are still testing dApps on the Ethereum network.

This is why.

you can do exactly this. it's technically feasible. share the entire db via p2p, deidentify the voters into keys. have the keys be asymmetrically encrypted so the voter can find their vote and only their vote. have a client that allows you to do this seamlessly. have a shared service (possibly tor hidden services) to report if your vote wasn't the one you thought you made. this shared service would frequently update another p2p file of vetted votes. problem solved.

this could all be done with a javascript client script (transparent code) on your browser taking to a tor service. the nerd community could build upon the framework of the system and provide additional analytics so that users could see vote results (and fraud) in real time. nosql stores would be the perfect backend for something like this - particularly ones like mongo that can be sharded and otherwise distributed to super nodes. or you could just use a simple DHT.

the key to such a system would be ensuring the client code was what it was supposed to be, and this can be done in a variety of ways using hashes, etc. Qubes OS for instance provides a bunch of different hashes for their ISOs. same principle.

if you wanted to get super domain specific, you could write a custom client using bittorrent protocols (which uses a DHT under the hood anyway) that was specific to voting. this would require a bit of knowledge of bittorrent, but there are coders out there who could do this no probs.

another option is hacking the blockchain stack to be the store of votes. not my domain, but also doable.

We could, and it could be done in a transparent, anonymous, and auditable manner. I actually tried to launch a crowdfunding campaign for exactly this last year (direct democracy party). Unfortunately we did not secure much funding and I am back working in industry. I would like to keep working on this though, especially with new networks like Ethereum this would be even easier.

The issue isn't building the system, it's getting people to use it.

It's the "secure" part that's a lot trickier than it sounds.

Plus voting is supposed to be anonymous. If you give people the ability to check their own votes, you necessarily must store personally identifying information WITH the vote.

Which means that extortion would still be a viable, and verifiable, way of influencing the vote artificially.

Ok. Lets assume I get to build that app.

1. Multi platform. I would say that the most needed would be for each cotizen to have an acess key linked to their ID card. Like, The next time you swipe your card at a government office, you would get a new key associated to your account. The keys can be pretty long in length, lets say 1 MB. The key gets saved on your card and can be exchanged as often as you want, because hells bells, we all know wallets can get lost. The "you can demand a new key as often as you want" is also a help against manipulation . If someone finds out what key I have, I can just access a new one, and Boom, my shit gets transferred.

2. With that key, you can now download a programm / an app / ect. The app has to be freeware, open source, and available to as many people as possible, so everyone can watch. remember, the best defense against hackers or foreign state actors is to have as large of a userbase watching as possible. Give a small paycheck ( lets say 10.000 bucks in your regional countries currency) to the guy that discovers the bug, and the same to a guy who makes a workable suggeestion on how to fix it. Trust me, bug bounty programms are extrremely valuable security wise.

3. The app now functions like a crypto coin wallet, you get different colored cryptocoins, depending on what you vote for. Every citizen can backup the entire file for the voting process he wants. lets say I am a welmeaning citizen, and I can vote for sherrif, ombudsmann, the PTA for my school, and the union representative. I decide to be a host for all of them, meaning that others that are geographically clos can download parts of my blockchain from me. That way, you yourself can decide how helpfull you want this to be, or how public. The threat of someone providing a different blockchain is also eliminated.

4. Hell, for fuckerys sake, also allow everybody to use the blockchain for voting on stupid shit. Like, who wants gto be a superstar, which braindead monster has the bigger tits, class president in kindergarden, and so forth. all you have to do is go to a government office, and tell them who do you want the voters to be. The info can be very specific ( I want john smith to vote, but not dave davidson. ), or very broad ( I want every college aged male to vote, I want all citizens of my city to vote, ect. ). That way, because you use it for everyday shit, you get used to the system, and can see for yourself how it works. .

5. Now, the process works as follows: Depending on the vote in question, the government pre-mines you a number of coins, and sends them out to the voters, as many as they have votes. At the same times, for every vote accounted for, it mines a second coin, ready to give it back to say the vote was counted. Plus,, as an added comfort, a third coin, which you can use to check the voting mechanism for integrity, and make sure your vote is counted, before you actually vote.

6. Now, voting works like this. When you can vote ( lets say a full week), you get a notification on your app, your pogram, one week before, at the start, and at the end. Then, you have one week to send your coins. At the end of the week, the third notification is send out, to say that now the votes are being counted.

7. if you send yoiur testvote coins, you can see them in the system, and make sure everything is in order. You can also go, allright, lets do this. But if you send your actual vote coin, you get the confirmation coin back from the government, telling you that your vote has been counted. On an other keychain, mind you. That way, if votes appear without confirmation coins being handed out, BAM, they were only testvotes, right? And if confirmation coins get handed out without a vote being handed in at the same time, we also have a problem. Same with when the government realizes the confirmation coin has been handed out to an address associated with no vote, or if citizens suddenly realize no confirmation coin has been reccieved.

8. Hell, wanna make it more secure? the first time you get handed a id card, you have to vote for the service quality of the place where you get it from, under official supervision. That way, you make your first official vote, and get your first offical coin token that you voted. Thus, you can then go, I want to use that first official coin token to proove that I am who I am, thus having a 2 factor authentication against the card.

9. Provisional ballot polls could be run against the blockchain with the test votes to gauge sucess, final abblots against the confirmation chain. Thus, we could even simplify and make polls more accurate.

10. In systems with final special measures, you had an accurate representation on the will of the people. lets say for my school election, I had to elect a class president who then would elect a years president whzo them would elect a school president. Same fucking deal. Give my coin to my candidate, get a confirmation coin from his account. My candidate is then giving my coins to his candidate, and so forth. Plus, you could even implement things like additional votes for elders, parents, ect. Just give them the coins associated to their children, as long as they are not yet allowed to vote. I trust my pal Biggy to know what#s happening? Hell, he gets my coin. Same damn deal. It even gets recorded.

11. Blockchains on your device should be deletable. Lets say I voted who in the local stripclub has the best breasts. I may not want to keep that for too long on my device.

12. Lets say, for kicks, we implement a rewards points system. After all, you need something to get people jazzed. each client that is now a host gets a reward from the government for helping it out with the server capacity. Thus, you provide your blockchain to like 100 people, you get a dollar in tax writeoffs if i6t is an official election, or some sponsored gymmick if it is a sponsored election, or 9it tops out at 25 dollars so others get a chance. It does not sound like much, but you can bet it would get people excited in direct democracy, and keeping an interest in voiting and keeping the recordds available.

except 90 % of the people don't want to rule themselves because it's boring, and a currency that is immunee to speculation is not existant because it neccesarily depends on being traded to other currency.

Because it would be immediately broken and corrupted.

that would be democracy you're asking for, yeah.

Well the public's popular vote doesnt really matter, Clinton is proving that by swooning the delegates in order to combat the grassroots movement of Sanders. Hell G.W. Bush did the same thing, it would be a non-point to tally popular vote.