A workers memo has revealed that the U.S. Congress is contemplating blockchain expertise as a way for the Senate to conduct distant voting amid the
A workers memo has revealed that the U.S. Congress is contemplating blockchain expertise as a way for the Senate to conduct distant voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The report states that blockchain could also be deployed alongside end-to-end encrypted, or E2EE, purposes to facilitate voting.
The memo was composed after the Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations’ Roundtable on Continuity of Senate Operations and Distant Voting in Occasions of Disaster occasion.
The dialogue got here because the Senate prepares to reconvene this week.
Senate considers DLT-based voting contingency
The doc states that Congress’ two chambers have at all times “met in-person to conduct enterprise, together with committee hearings, flooring deliberation, and voting,” emphasizing that “neither chamber has contingency plans to permit these capabilities to proceed remotely.”
The Senate workers memo asserts that via an encrypted distributed ledger, “blockchain can each transmit a vote securely and in addition confirm the proper vote — noting that mentioned traits have been used to argue for the efficacy of blockchain-based voting programs.
“Blockchain can present a safe and clear setting for transactions and a tamper-free digital document of all of the votes,” the memo states. “It additionally reduces the dangers of incorrect vote tallies,” the doc provides.
Congress additionally notes that blockchain-like programs are already being deployed within the context of voting — citing Estonia’s 2019 parliamentary elections that noticed 44% of votes solid on-line.
Senate involved about safety vulnerabilities
The report identifies issues concerning a 51% assault on the blockchain used to host Senate ballots, emphasizing that “any distant blockchain voting system would have to be correctly set as much as remove any risk of 51 p.c assault.”
The Senate additionally expresses anxieties regarding “doable vulnerabilities from cryptographic flaws and software program bugs.”
The memo comes amid rising discussions surrounding the efficacy of blockchain-based options to governance challenges ensuing from the COVID-19 pandemic, with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin being urged by members of Congress to think about blockchain-based stimulus distributions.