The people of West Virginia are now using a mobile app that is based on the blockchain. The app will help in casting absentee ballots in the midterm elections that are around the corner. According to slate, citizens of West Virginia that are living abroad began using the blockchain based application for voting this Friday. The application will grant voters registered in 24 countries the ability to cast absentee ballots via smartphone. The application dubbed “voatz” is primarily targeting military officers stationed abroad. This pilot project began in March and was completed on the 8th of may which was the D-day for West Virginia’s primary polls.
Early last month, Mac Werner, the West Virginia secretary of state told CNN about the successful outcome of testing after four different audits of various components on that platform. After the CNN report, the secretary of state’s deputy chief of staff said that each separate West Virginia county will make the final decision about using the app for the looming mid-term polls, adding that voters will still have the option of casting paper ballots if they choose to do so. West Virginia’s decision to induct the blockchain in their plans is not only a win for the voters who reside and work outside the state, but also a win for cryptocurrency since it will aid to fast-track the process of adoption.
The blockchain powered enterprise by West Virginia state has however received some criticism. These criticisms have largely been driven by security concerns according to the chief technologist at the center for democracy and technology, Lorenzo Hall. Lorenzo hall was quoted as saying, “Mobile voting is a horrific idea. It is internet voting on people’s horribly secured devices, over our horrible networks, to servers that are very difficult to secure without a physical paper record of the vote”
The decision by West Virginia to use this blockchain based app has received criticism and praise in equal measure. The initiative has received heavy backing from Bradley Tusk, who is the head and founder of Tusk Montgomery philanthropies. Tusk Montgomery philanthropies is the company that funded the application’s development and encouraged the deployment of the blockchain for voting. Tusk stated that remote voting had the potential of causing a bigger turn out of voters which would be great for democracy.
