A Melbourne-based start-up is seeking to use blockchain technology to provide greater voting transparency in emerging democracies.
Indonesia heads into a national election in nine months. For the last 20 years, allegations of vote rigging have plagued the democracy, which according to international election monitors has severely affected public trust in the election process.
Horizon State hopes to change that with their digital ballot box that will ensure that votes cannot be tampered with.
If you use blockchain to submit a vote in the same way that a bitcoin transaction can’t be reversed, it makes it more trustworthy, and makes it a system not owned by any one entity, said Horizon State’s Jamie Skella, who designed the platform.
In the first phase the project will provide a digital ballot box on mobile phones for members of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, allowing them to vote on key decisions affecting their community, such as electing leaders, allocating funds and deciding on community projects.
Horizon State is hoping to prove the success of the platform and scale it up for government elections in Indonesia.
Indonesia legislators were considering introducing a non-blockchain electronic voting system for the 2019 elections, but ultimately abandoned it, deciding it was prone to be hacked.
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