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Comment by matt4077 | Hacker News Reader

What? Pen-and-paper, with the ability to observe, is a provably secure system, and its security is easily observable by anybody. That

Blockchains are voodoo, and I'd really think the ongoing disaster of Ethereum should have cooled some of these absurd claims of perfect security.

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Pen-and-paper is not observable by anybody. It's a complete black box, and there's no way for me to verify that my vote went through.

With a blockchain on the other hand, anybody could verify that their vote went through (just like anybody can verify any Bitcoin/Ethereum transaction). I'd feel much more confident in this than some black box pen and paper because there's zero way to verify anything under a pen-and-paper system.

What disaster of Ethereum? Ethereum is doing pretty well.

With a blockchain, you could verify that your vote went through but so can your neighbour. Even if you find some way around that: If you can see how you see how your vote was counted, you are able to prove to someone else how you voted making vote selling possible. These are two big reasons not to use such a system.

Personally, I know for certain that my vote in the last election went through because I have seen the complete process myself and have verified that the published vote counts match the once counted in the polling station. There is no black box left.

You would need a hash to verify the transaction, and hashes wouldn't be publicly tied to one's identity. Thus if I claim that a hash represents me, then there'd be no way for anybody else to verify that. It's a legitimate concern, but not a hurdle that can't be overcome.

So you worked at a polling station that had it's shit together? Great, but that doesn't inspire me much confidence. Though really the main reason I want electronic voting is for convenience (it really is a hassle, and election days aren't national holidays), increased participation, and so that we could move more towards direct democracy and liquid democracy.

Election days are always Sundays and even if you work on that day, your employer must let you vote. Voting by letter also exists if you absolutely can't make it.

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