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December 10, 2019, 02:46:09 PM
Last edit: February 05, 2020, 02:18:39 PM by Thesaurum___Offical |
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We'd be the first to tell you: No, a blockchain wouldn't have prevented the voting debacle in Iowa.
The question is inevitable, if at this point cringe-inducing. Inevitable because the problems that delayed the results of Monday’s Democratic presidential caucus are, conceptually, some of the same ones that blockchains (and distributed ledger technology broadly) seek to solve: a lack of transparency, centralization and inefficiency. Cringe-inducing because blockchain’s record with political elections has been iffy at best.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, the voting results, normally revealed after the caucus that night, were still unknown. The state party says the delay is necessary as it performs “quality control” and verifies digitally reported results against the underlying paper trail.
This year held some notable changes for the notoriously manual and highly decentralized caucusing process, with the introduction of an app for individual local gatherings to report their results back to the Iowa Democratic Party. Traditionally, this was done with a phone call; while that process has its flaws, this year's results make them seem almost enviable.
From all appearances, it is this new results-reporting app that is at the core of today’s chaos.
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