Blockchain might quickly earn itself a job in New York State’s voting processes and procedures.
New York Assemblymember Clyde Vanel introduced Invoice A07716 on April 8, directing the state Board of Elections to judge how blockchain may assist defend voter information and election outcomes. The laws is at the moment into consideration by the Meeting Election Legislation Committee.
In keeping with the invoice’s abstract, the aim is to “examine and consider the usage of blockchain expertise to guard voter information and election outcomes.“
The invoice mandates that the Board of Elections produce a report inside one 12 months assessing the potential advantages of blockchain in securing election information. The examine should embrace enter from consultants in blockchain, cybersecurity, voter fraud and election recordkeeping.
Invoice textual content. Supply: New York State Assembly
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Blockchain functions in elections
This isn’t the primary initiative that makes an attempt to carry the tamper-proof options of blockchain expertise to the voting course of. In early March, the Bitcoin community was used to secure and store the results of the Williamson County, Tennessee Republican Get together Conference’s March 4 election to find out the management and board of the native social gathering chapter.
A couple of 12 months in the past, Brian Rose — an impartial mayoral candidate in London — advised Cointelegraph that blockchain-based voting techniques may foster more transparency and public trust within the election course of:
“Wouldn’t all of us sleep higher at night time if the voting system was on the blockchain and you might actually show that identification and you might truly show that vote and there can be an immutable file? That is the long run and I feel it takes somebody like me who comes from a enterprise background who’s intimately concerned within the blockchain.”
Nonetheless, consultants warning that blockchain techniques are solely as dependable as the information enter into them — an idea typically summarized as “rubbish in, rubbish out.” Whereas blockchain gives tamper-resistant storage, it doesn’t assure the integrity of the unique information submission.
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A crypto-conscious assemblymember
Vanel is not any stranger to blockchain-related initiatives, having launched a invoice that will set up criminal penalties to prevent cryptocurrency fraud and defend buyers from rug pulls in early March. In January, he additionally acknowledged that New York grew to become the primary US state to create a cryptocurrency task force to check the regulation, use and definition of digital forex.
He has additionally been a vocal commenter on the business and its relationship with policymakers for years. In Could 2019, Vanel mentioned that the blockchain industry needs to be better at lobbying for itself and educating regulators.
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