US: West Virginia Completes First Blockchain-Supported State Elections

Polls closed in West Virginia's primary election May 8, completing the first government-run, blockchain-supported vote in US history, ETHNews reported May 9.

While most voters cast regular ballots, special voters in certain districts voted on a mobile blockchain-based platform.

The blockchain-based mobile voting platform, developed by Voatz, was only available to a select group of voters.

Participants were deployed military members, other citizens eligible to vote absentee under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, and their spouses and dependents.

Participation was further limited to voters registered in two West Virginia counties, Harrison and Monongalia.

" blockchain does provide a heightened level of security on this type of mobile voting app.

The audit of the voting exercise will be performed by employees of Voatz, and the clerks representing Harrison and Monongalia counties.

While Queen expresses hope for the system's use in future elections, some experts remain skeptical regarding electronic voting, and Voatz's solution in particular.

University of South Carolina computer science professor Duncan Buell believes that the facial-recognition and fingerprint-scanning technologies the company employs to verify voter identities could be vulnerable to hacks.

Queen said the Secretary's office is "Very encouraged so far today and we believe that is a real viable option." He added that there "Are a lot of other states who are asking about this mobile voting solution and who are also interested in it."