Days earlier than a U.S. Presidential election marred by courtroom fights over vote counting and partisan allegations of rampant mail-in poll fraud
Days earlier than a U.S. Presidential election marred by courtroom fights over vote counting and partisan allegations of rampant mail-in poll fraud, Overstock.com is as soon as once more touting what it calls an answer: blockchain voting.
“If [voting] doesn’t work in addition to it ought to, subsequent week take into consideration how Voatz might have solved that,” Overstock chief Jonathan Johnson advised buyers throughout OSTK’s Oct. 29 earnings name.
Johnson, who can also be president of Overstock’s blockchain investments subsidiary Medici Ventures, was referring to the Medici-backed cell voting app Voatz, which claims to make use of blockchain expertise to safe customers’ vote.
Elections officers in 29 of America’s 3,141 counties have allowed sure absentee voters to forged ballots through Voatz in previous elections, Johnson stated. He famous that one county in Utah is utilizing Voatz in subsequent week’s contest. Extra companions are on the best way, he stated.
Johnson’s feedback counsel that Medici sees a fair wider opening for its cell voting firm within the wake of subsequent week’s election. Voting consultants are anticipating a messy and prolonged vote rely that would cloud the rhetorically-charged presidential race with but extra uncertainty.
Whether or not Voatz works in addition to it ought to is equally unsure.
MIT safety researchers blasted the app’s cybersecurity safeguards in a February 2020 paper that the corporate referred to as unfair and inaccurate. Voatz stated on the time that it had addressed vulnerabilities recognized in a separate Division of Homeland Safety cyber audit.
There have been different hiccups, too. Weeks previous to MIT’s report, a Voatz service outage threatened to derail Tufts College’s scholar senate races. Elections officers on the college worry the shutdown could have depressed turnout. Voatz referred to as that outage “precautionary.”