Topic: Can you see the blockchain being used to register votes in general elections? - page 2. (Read 9414 times)

With Bitcoin, every (full) node on the network verifies that all of the transactions it sees are valid (ie: follow certain rules). Vote verifiers would check that the number of voters appears to be correct; that the number of votes is correct, and that all the signatures are valid. Since only one (or group of transactions) are needed on voting day, the block-chain concept does not apply.

See post in the CoinJoin thread I linked to earlier. I don't understand how blind signatures would work with shared outputs, but gmaxwell thinks it is possible. It appears his mitigations involve keeping everybody's output separate. For voting, you would also need some way to prevent the vote server from recording everybody's vote before blinding is complete.

"Every voter (or possibly just every political party/interested parties) verifies that the resulting transaction appears to be valid."
Thats why I thought you had to use a blockchain because of the double spend issue. Or the ease at which a block explorer can verify info.

"Some kind of blind signatures are done, signing votes over to candidates."
please elaborate

Yes there was a voting project that tried to do this cannot recall its name now though

Making the software open source does not help. You need some way to prove that the vote counting server does the right thing.

For voting you don't need a Proof-of-work, Proof-of-stake, or a block-chain.

• Every voter centrally registers with their private key.
• Every candidate publishes their public key.
• Some kind of blind signatures are done, signing votes over to candidates.
• Every voter (or possibly just every political party/interested parties) verifies that the resulting transaction appears to be valid.

Step 3 is the part.

So a server running PHP and a MySQL database is more secure then a blockchain? Ie: blockchain is easier to hack?

Any votecoin trader worth his salt knows not to put votecoins into MTGox. 

Oh right I didn't realise it was a private network.

In that case all you need is a server running PHP and a MySQL database. No need for blockchains or any crypto technology.

The PHP could be open sourced so people can verify that it is not doing anything untoward.

What happens when someone hacks into MtGox and steals all the votes. lol

So what you are saying is that if i have 100 polling sites running this software; These sites are all running the same proof of stake coin software; All nodes are know and registered and only known and registered nodes  can connect, effectively making this a private network, someone can still hack me with a 51% attack? I also wont have some kind of record of the attack?

If I am running this software for 1 day only at my 100 polling stations, and people arrive and I give them a votecoin to spend on my network, I don't care about the value of the coins as the instance is for only that 1 day. Proof of stake seems like it would solve your power issues.

You might want to look into the bitcoin protocol and some of the tutorials about double spending, why we need a block chain and why we have proof of work, and also the statistics about the energy used by the network (I worked it out to be 3 nuke power stations for BTC alone ... a tad bit more than a light bulb).

If there is a premine PoS, or the goverment appointed polling stations doing the mining, then there is an easy 51% attack possible to rig the results of the election. No one would trust it, and so the original idea to have a voting system you can trust is flawed.

If the mining is done anonymously by citizens then they need a reward. Running a basic rig is like running a fridge - doesn't use much power at any time but when you get billed for the electricity at the end of the quarter you may be in for a shock. Also the graphics cards etc. To get the hashing power you need to avoid 51% you need serious miners who will in turn want serious ROI to point their rig away from DOGE or LTC and towards your VOTECOIN. So they need to get paid somehow.

--> A better option may be to reuse the existing and well mined BTC network with transaction fees costs that come from the government and thus ultimately the voter. Then the government fund the technology but cannot manipulate it and it may cost less than the existing voting system requiring lots of manual counting.

I branched off onto a tangent here about making congress obsolete.


https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.5738385

Convince me that this is for the good of mankind then you have a developer by your side.
If you can't convince me then don't bother contacting me.

Whats that have to do with the price of potatoes?

I hear what you are saying. The matrix kinda summed up this thought process well. Most people do not want to awaken from the system. Most do not want to pull back the curtain to reveal the wizard, it would explode their head.

I like everyone else was born into this system of slavery. The money, the roads, the laws, the bullets, the politicians, the mcdonalds were already here when I became conscious. But what we the people need to realize is this is our system, not theirs. They built it and have the guns, but we have the numbers.

If we don't like something we change it. Walking into a store and buying a nugget is awesome. Or if you are in Oregon, growing a 14ft tall cannabis plant in your yard is awesome. Do you think the political elite wanted that?  

It has to happen from voting.  We cannot dismantle society because a group of people have corrupted it. We simply need to throw those fuckers to the curb. And I agree, I hate the choice between the lesser of two evils. That is no choice. But a real leader. That is something that would be grand.

Will every soldier have a Bitcoin wallet?

People get arrested for that all the time. And for feeding homeless people. Politicians are to blame. The government is to blame. No more "fair" method of voting will fix that.

To be clear: I'm not saying I like voter fraud. I'm saying that trying to fix voting is still believing in an immoral, murderous system. And a majority still believing in it is what keeps it going. It's the "man behind the curtain" in Wizard of Oz, if the man behind the curtain was backed by goons with guns.

MWD

I like the rumors of the drug printer. That would be a hoot.  http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jul/21/chemputer-that-prints-out-drugs

Although growing your own food can be thought of as decentralized food production. And growing your own ganja could be considered making your own medicine.

Decentralize everything..

The 3D printer is the beta of the 1.0 Star Trek replicator. And plenty of politicians, left and right, want to regulate 3D printers because Cody Wilson did a hilarious bit of political theater with one.

He's brilliant, his gun is junk, you could make a better single-shot .380 weapon in your garage right now using things you probably already have in your house. But ALL politicians are so damn scared of change, and scared of the slaves having a tiny bit of power and anonymity, that most of them were scared shittless by the 3D printer.


Not in my state. Because cops have too much fun and make too much money kicking in doors for it still. Pot won't be legal until 2016 when the Democrats realize it will get them elected, that the demographic has reached that majority. And they'll look cool and hip for doing it, and everyone will forget that Obama LAUGHED at a kid at a town hall meeting who asked when Obama was going to honor his campaign promise to decriminalize. Obama said "Oh, I don't think we'll be doing THAT."

All politicians want you and dead or in a cage. They'll do it so slowly you don't notice. And that includes the fact that when they "legalize" pot nationwide, they'll tax and regulate it so much that it will cost more than it does now places it's still illegal. That's already happening in Colorado and Washington.

MWD

I don't agree with this.

First off we already have a politcial class that votes for whatever the hell the corporations tell them to vote for. This has lead to a situation where the people are not represented. Congress is Supposed to be a representation of the people but its not even close by a long shot. Laws already are unbalanced. Blockchain technology could better represent the people then congress.

Second, why would I vote for a law that goes against my own values or self interests. I would never vote for a law to kill 50% of children under age 10 because I was fearful of them using too much food. With direct democracy couldn't someone propose such an insane law? People already do propose lots of laws that some don't agree with. Pot is now legal, why because people wanted it. Crack is still illegal, why because thats how people want it. If most people work why the hell would they vote to fuck themselves by %100 taxation. I don't buy it.

Third in our system of using money most people HAVE to work. They need money so they work. Nobody is going to quit their jobs until you give us free land, houses, food, clothes, energy, etc. No need for jobs when you have a star trek replicator. But wait they did still have jobs, they worked on the enterprise.

Every driver already follows an autonomous program known as the traffic light. And where as yes that system is centralized, mostly everyone still does what the light (a traffic protocol)says.

What systems can be autonomous?
DMV?
Mail?
Social Security?


How much administration can be autonomous? Really alot of our problems are because we can't hold our leaders accountable.

Isn't much of government just allocating and spending funds? The Blockchain can make this transparent. All of the fraud and theft and waste that occurs from corrupt politicians who get to hide their budgets is out in the open with transparency.