Blockchain Voting IRL and Web3

This is Article 4 of 4 for TalentDAO’s Writer’s Cohort

The need for decentralized voting systems has been a hot debate for researchers and academics. On the one hand, blockchain voting allows for a decentralized democratic voting standard that we can use for any election — even international polls. On the other hand, some blockchain-specific limitations are still before decentralized voting is mass adopted. In this article, we define decentralized voting, compare it with legacy voting, examine some pros and cons, and highlight existing blockchain voting projects.

Decentralized voting uses blockchain and distributed ledger technology to improve the election process. Blockchain technology features a decentralized network of computers (nodes), combining cryptography, mathematics, and computer science to make network activity immutable. As such, blockchain is suitable for election systems.

A decentralized voting system has some or all of the following features:

1. Anonymity: Transactions on the blockchain are linked to the user’s public address (a randomly generated alphanumeric string) instead of real names. This feature guarantees privacy and unique verifiability for each participating voter.
2. Data Immutability: As mentioned above, the blockchain employs cryptography to protect data from manipulation and tampering. Votes recorded on the blockchain cannot be edited or erased to favor a particular candidate.
3. Decentralization: Each blockchain is hosted on countless nodes scattered around the world. Using a blockchain makes the election process more resistant to hacks because hackers would need to attack every computer connected to the blockchain to have its way.
4. Transparency: Each node holds an updated copy of the blockchain at any time. The nodes can also see — and reject — any malicious changes to the blockchain. Thus, voters can follow the election in real-time with an eye out for irregularities.

Conventional voting is often time-consuming, expensive, and requires tremendous paperwork — which is detrimental to the environment. Furthermore, multiple parties and labor are involved, which adds heavy overheads to the process. As a solution, electronic voting (e-voting) the machine were invented. But then, the devices are vulnerable to a single point of failure (e.g., microchip tampering) and centralized manipulation (adjusting the votes via the database).

Additionally, e-voting machines don’t address long queues, and voters MUST be at the polling station to vote. The solution is with blockchain voting systems — they eliminate the chances of hacks and vote manipulation. Also, after the election, the results are transparent, with no opportunity to hide votes in favor of a candidate.

One of the core benefits of introducing decentralized voting systems is that voters can participate without regard for their physical location. A good example is the recent Covid-19 pandemic which restricted physical elections due to nationwide lockdowns. Also, traditional elections typically draw large crowds at polling stations.

However, from personal experience, large queues prevent potential voters — like parents, shift workers, and people with disabilities — from coming out to vote. The benefits mentioned above are also linked to other advantages like faster and cost-effective voting processes while reducing the amount of trust voters have to place in the voting process.

The foundation of decentralized voting is the blockchain, and like other technology, it is not without flaws that can affect the election process. Listed below are some of the challenges:

• Limited participation: Voters need to be online to use blockchain-based voting applications. In some areas of the world, knowledge and access to the internet are limited, which could drastically reduce voter participation.
• Ignorance: Blockchain is very niche, so general knowledge of the technology is limited. To avoid making mistakes, users MUST be properly educated Eg: Safeguarding their private keys to prevent identity theft.
• Low transaction speed: The blockchain has been heavily criticized for its poor scalability. Scalability is the network’s ability to do many transactions without a drop in quality, security, and user experience. Popular blockchains — Bitcoin and Ethereum — can only process up to 20 transactions per second. This speed is low and would undoubtedly affect the blockchain’s usefulness in an election where hundreds, thousands, and even millions of voters are casting their votes at the same time. That said, developers have created and are still creating blockchain scaling solutions.

Although the concept of blockchain is new, existing projects are offering the solution already. Below is a list of them:

Luxoft Holding, Inc is an international IT provider partnered with the City of Zug and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland to design Luxoft, the first decentralized voting system used on a mass scale in a major economy. Luxoft’s solution incorporates Ethereum’s smart contracts features, the city of Zug’s digital ID registration application, and the custom identity platform uPort. This combo allows Swiss residents to cast tamper-proof votes, publicly verifiable and anonymous votes.

Kapersky Lab is responsible for Polys, a software and hardware e-voting provider. Polys is open-source and features a cloud-based solution and blockchain-voting machines while offering customer service and support. Regardless of the voting process — a smartphone or terminal — votes are automatically recorded on the blockchain. Furthermore, Polys collates votes from different devices and terminals for the same election.

Founded in 2015, Agora is the first and leading blockchain-based voting project to be used in a presidential election. In the March 2018 Sierra Leone presidential elections, Agora reduced polling fraud and overheads. The project incorporates a custom blockchain with a unique consensus that voters can use for community, public, and private elections. Agora also comes with a native token for voting. In detail, you need a smartphone or computer to vote with Agora. You are not tied to one device, as you can vote with someone else’s phone or computer. A whole community can vote with one device; if the device gets stolen, you can use your encrypted key to vote from somewhere else. You can even vote offline as your vote uploads when you are online.

Voatz is one of the leading mobile decentralized voting projects. The project combines blockchain technology and biometric verification for votes’ security, transparency, and immutability. Voatz offers users a blockchain-based audit portal and dashboard and provides real-time analysis on voters’ mobile or tablet devices. As a result, voters can vote securely and anonymously from anywhere in the world. Because of that, Voatz has been popular in recent years, evident in the completion of its 2022 election cycle in the United States and Canada.

To voatz, users must provide KYC details with a selfie, biometrics, and pin. After verification, they can use the app and check for ongoing polls. Then, they can mark, review and cast their votes, after which they get an anonymized receipt for confirmation of their choice. These receipts are also used for post-election audits.

Snapshot is a blockchain voting system exclusively for crypto, Web3, and DeFi projects. The platform is unique and popular because projects use it to quickly gain consensus on issues like funds allocated for projects/guilds, budgets, proposals for new DAOs, etc. Currently, Snapshot boasts 11k spaces (projects using the platform), and thousands of proposals have been voted for and against.

How does Snapshot work?

Traditionally, DeFi protocols vote in two ways: on-chain and off-chain. On-chain refers to voting that happens on the blockchain. Unfortunately, this method usually has to be developed and requires users to pay gas to cast their votes. Off-chain voting, on the other hand, happens outside of the blockchain. However, the final say typically lies on a select few — whales with lots of tokens — making it more centralized and taking away the essence of blockchain tech.

These methods have pros and cons, but Snapshot combines only the good. It is off-chain and requires no smart contract development. At the same time, it can be used across multiple blockchains and uses IPFS network to record user votes. These features give Snapshot much-needed decentralized properties that traditional off-chain voting lacks.

Snapshot is a blockchain voting system exclusively for crypto, Web3, and DeFi projects. The platform is unique and popular because projects use it to quickly gain consensus on issues like funds allocated for projects/guilds, budgets, proposals for new DAOs, etc. Currently, Snapshot boasts 11k spaces (projects using the platform), and thousands of proposals have been voted for and against.

How does Snapshot work?

Traditionally, DeFi protocols vote in two ways: on-chain and off-chain. On-chain refers to voting that happens on the blockchain. Unfortunately, this method usually has to be developed and requires users to pay gas to cast their votes. Off-chain voting, on the other hand, happens outside of the blockchain. However, the final say typically lies on a select few — whales with lots of tokens — making it more centralized and taking away the essence of blockchain tech.

These methods have pros and cons, but Snapshot combines only the good. It is off-chain and requires no smart contract development. At the same time, it can be used across multiple blockchains and uses IPFS network to record user votes. These features give Snapshot much-needed decentralized properties that traditional off-chain voting lacks.

As we saw in the cons section, there are hurdles for blockchain voting projects to overcome before we see the mass adoption of blockchain voting systems. For example, there are many misunderstandings and misconceptions surrounding the technology. Additionally, the scalability trilemma still plagues the blockchain. That said, for these projects to become mainstream, we require a lot of sensitization and awareness in local communities on the benefits of distributed ledgers and decentralized voting projects.

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