It had to come. West Virginia becomes the first state where people can vote by smartphone
Politco is reporting that West Virginia will become the first state in the US where it will be possible to vote by smartphone in the crucial election on November 6th.
An app has been created that will allow hundreds of overseas residents, members of the military stationed abroad and others to cast their ballots remotely. It is being emphasised that the app will rely on blockchain, which is the same technology technology that underpins Bitcoin.
Politico reports that that this has sparked off a number of worries:
“..cybersecurity and election integrity advocates say West Virginia is setting an example of all the things states shouldn’t do when it comes to securing their elections, an already fraught topic given fears that Russian operatives are trying again to tamper with U.S. democracy.
“This is a crazy time to be pulling a stunt like this. I don’t know what they’re thinking,” said David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories who is on the board of Verified Voting, an election security advocacy group. “All internet voting systems, including this one, have a host of cyber vulnerabilities which make it extremely dangerous.”
West Virginia is the scene of one of the key Senate races where the Democrats are defending in a state that was taken by Trump two years ago by a 40 point margin. Currently the Dems have a poll lead but not that great.
No doubt this will spark of a lot of controversy. The question is how are they going to ensure the integrity of the election.