West Virginian officials are conducting an audit of a recent voting exercise – the first in a US election to record votes using blockchain technology.
On the evening of May 8, polls closed in West Virginia's primary election, marking the conclusion of the first government-run, blockchain-mediated vote in the history of the United States.
Speaking to ETHNews the following morning, Mike Queen, communications director for West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, said his office believes that "blockchain does provide a heightened level of security on this type of mobile voting app." He went on to say, "We're genuinely hoping that will allow this type of a mobile app to be made available in the future – as early perhaps as our general election – to military voters."
Relatively few voters were expected to take part in the trial, which was limited to deployed military members and other Americans eligible to vote absentee under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act[1] (UOCAVA), as well as their spouses and dependents. Participation was further restricted to voters registered in two of the state's 55 counties: Harrison and Monongalia.
Pending an audit of the voting exercise, Warner may move to roll the system out to all UOCAVA voters registered in West Virginia for the general election this November.
The audit will be conducted by employees of Voatz, the company behind the voting system, the clerks representing Harrison and Monongalia counties, and possibly other parties. According to Queen, Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist who has been described[2] as a sharing economy "lobbyist" and who had arranged to pay[3] Voatz the roughly $150,000 it was charging to conduct the exercise, will also participate in the review process, though it's
