Blockchain technology has been used for the first time in a US presidential elections after Josh Daniels, a Utah resident cast his vote for Brock Pierce, a “Mighty Ducks” child actor turned cryptocurrency entrepreneur independent presidential candidate on Tuesday.
Josh Daniels termed his vote a good day for the people of Utah and indicated that this was a step in the right direction because it would ensure that ballot integrity is maintained in the state. He continued by adding that the adoption of the technology would also help the election system and advance the liberty for all citizens, which was good for the republic.
Blockchain technology voting
Utah County Clerk Amelia Powers Gardner was could also not hide her excitement terming the move as a sign of Utah’s pioneering spirit. She also expressed support for the usage of the blockchain technology in elections and indicated that she was happy that her state and county had been the first in the country to have cast a presidential vote using the technology.
The US elections are just a few weeks from the election day, and major concerns about elections security have been cast by members from both parties and the intelligence community. Social media platforms have also taken steps to combat fake news and elections interference through their platforms, indicating that they were working to prevent fraud and a repeat of the 2016 elections.
Just last week, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI indicated that they were working hard to ensure that the 2020 presidential elections are safe. In a joint advisory warning, the two institutions in an advanced persistent threat (APT) indicated that they were aware that there were actors who were working hard to compromise the legitimacy of the US elections.
CISA indicated that they had observed concerted effort to compromise the elections, including successful unauthorized access to election support systems. However, they indicated that so far, these actors had not been able to compromise the elections and they were working hard to ensure that the situation remains like that.
Brock Pierce, the independent presidential candidate, hopes that implementation of the technology will make elections much safer and faster in the coming years. Pierce indicated that adoption of blockchain technology in voting was inevitable, and while many experts believed the systems would not be in use until 2024, he indicated that he was optimistic that the adoption would be as soon as 2021.
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