„Voting over the Internet brings more challenges with it. You have to prevent double voting and solve the difficulties with the technical hurdles to keeping the ballot papers secret and with the costs of voting machines.“
The Japanese company Layer X wants to team up with the digital identity application xID to develop a blockchain-based voting system in the Japanese city of Kaga
In an announcement by LayerX on Thursday, the Tokyo-based company said it plans to develop electronic voting to ensure safe elections for the city’s 68,000 residents. The company said the cost and stability of current electronic voting systems in the region was a problem that needed to be addressed.
„Voting over the Internet brings with it more challenges. You have to prevent a double vote and solve the difficulties with the technical hurdles to the secrecy of the ballot papers and with the costs of the voting machines,“ said the company’s announcement. „Bitcoin Sunrise researched and developed an electronic voting protocol that strikes a balance between the transparency of the voting process and the confidentiality of the voting.“
According to the company, the xID application will strengthen the company’s existing voting system and help verify the voter’s identity
It also ensures that only one voting slip per person is issued. LayerX’s system enables voters to check their own election results . In addition, a cryptographic function is built in with which one can independently verify that the recording and aggregation processes have been carried out correctly with a certain choice in the blockchain network.
Kaga was the first city in Japan to declare itself a „blockchain city“. The initiative was intended to counteract the population decline in rural areas of the country. Companies in the public and private sector are to be encouraged to use innovative technologies . LayerX made a similar announcement in November. The company announced at the time that it wanted to join Tsukuba City’s „Smart City“ initiative.