Blockchain voting - the next stage in democracy's evolution

IN recent years, our reliance on mobile apps and new platforms has surged to new heights, catalysed by a pandemic-induced shift in favour of all things digital.

According to a report by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Company, Internet penetration in South-east Asia reached 75 per cent in 2021. The region's Internet economy is also forecast to hit US$1 trillion by 2030. Yet, in spite of our insatiable appetite for tech, one aspect of civic life has remained largely unchanged - voting.

In a region known for its "smart cities", super apps, and highly developed tech ecosystems, it is curious that voting still seems so firmly rooted in the past. As precarious queues at polling stations across Asia abound amid the pandemic, longstanding issues around mail-in ballots in the world's oldest democracy shone a similar light on the limitations of modern-day voting mechanisms.

While some countries have turned to e-voting, concerns over voter fraud and cyberattacks persist, making it apparent that the modern-day voting mechanism is due for an update.

Digital certainties

The idea of a peer-to-peer network designed to incentivise honest self-regulation is fairly nascent - this was, after all, the premise of the Bitcoin white paper, published in 2008. Since then, its underlying technology, blockchain, has seen its share of fanfare across the globe, with governments, enterprises, and communities alike recognising its potential in bringing greater efficiency, transparency, and auditability to tired systems.

At its core, a blockchain is a transparent, immutable ledger of transactions, supported by a network of nodes that verify and process transactions taking place on-chain. With its decentralised structure, the network can't be taken down since it doesn't exist in just one place. When coupled with anonymisation and privacy-enhancing encryption, what you have is a system that could safely work at scale.

While many concerns pertaining to online voting stem from security, a blockchain-based voting application would be impervious to network hacks because of its decentralised structure.

In countries such as Singapore where robust digital identity infrastructures like Singpass already exist, a blockchain-based system could potentially tie those digital IDs to votes while anonymising voter identities and political preferences.

In fact, private sector-led blockchain voting has already been tested in the non-profit space, with industry associations such as the Association of Cryptocurrency Enterprises and Startups Singapore (Access) having led exploration in board elections.

Promising use cases across the globe have also emerged in recent years. Switzerland, a country with some of the highest levels of political participation in the world, attempted its own blockchain-based voting trial in 2018, hailing it "a success". In the same year, Sierra Leone did the same to curb the costs associated with paper-based ballot voting and as a means to mitigate electoral violence.

Beyond a matter of security, there's also that of access. Across the globe, many citizens are limited by systemic structural constraints that can sometimes feel like voter suppression: take weekday elections that inhibit civic engagement with inconvenient cut-off times and when voters are likely to have work-related commitments. With a secure mode of digital voting, societies could better address low voter turnout by guaranteeing the means to engage in this fundamental right.

A case study for innovation

Having said that, blockchain-based voting is very much in its infancy, with its most established use cases having been in action for just a little over a decade. Juxtaposed with centuries of physical ballot-casting, it becomes apparent that generations of established processes might be blockchain's biggest nemesis.

Only recently, cybersecurity experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology asserted that blockchain-based online alternatives still have ways to go before traditional paper-based systems can be laid to rest, pointing to the technology's existing shortcomings.

Nevertheless, there remains an opportunity for forward-thinking "smart governments" to raise the bar of their electoral process. In an age where digital trust and reliable conveniences have taken precedence over much else, is there really a reason voting cannot be seen in the same light?

As with any major technology, what stands between scepticism and confidence is rigorous testing and experimentation. What exists can always be improved upon - we just need to have the political will to try.

• The writer is head of marketing and operations at TZ APAC. She sits on the board of the Association of Cryptocurrency Enterprises and Startups Singapore (ACCESS), advocating for financial inclusion through blockchain technology.