West Virginia's Latest Experiment: Blockchain Elections
The 2016 presidential election brought to light just how archaic and vulnerable America’s voting system is, raising questions of how to protect democracy from foreign influences and digital hacks in the future.
Venture capitalist Bradley Tusk thinks blockchain could be the answer.
“Long term, I believe that every American should be able to vote in any election on their phone,” the founder and CEO of Tusk Montgomery Philanthropies told Cheddar Thursday.
Through his foundation, Tusk currently funds America’s first blockchain-powered voting experiment in West Virginia.
In March, the state launched a secure app to enable deployed military voters from a few counties to vote from wherever they are.
“We already have a handful of votes from various locations,” said Mac Warner, West Virginia’s Secretary of State.
“I was in the military and I’ve had those experiences where it’s difficult to vote. Think of the soldier on the hillside in Afghanistan...When they have those few minutes to think about an election back home, they want to vote the same way they order something from Amazon.”
Following this pilot program, the state wants to expand the program ahead of the midterm elections in November.
Tusk says the technology, which is already upending a range of industries from banking to art, provides a safer alternative to the current system.
“Blockchain...really is a much, much, much safer way to conduct elections not only compared to just regular online mobile voting, if someone were to try that, but even compared to the systems we have right now,” said Tusk.
For a military member to vote, the app not only requires details from their government-issued ID cards, but also uses [facial recognition and fingerprint scans](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-does-blockchain-powered-voting-work) to verify a voter’s identity.
“I’m very secure in the integrity of this election process,” sayd Warner.
Tusk, who managed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign, believes that low voter turnout leads to increased polarization among candidates and that this technology, though nascent, could in the long-term drastically change that.
“If, all of a sudden, voting was as easy as pulling out your phone and turnout went from 12 percent to 60 percent, then those same politicians would be forced to represent the views of the mainstream.
“To me, that’s the value in doing this. Right now, we don’t have a true represent of democracy,” said Tusk.
Procter & Gamble says that innovation is what it's always done best, and the company plans to showcase this with its latest products at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show, the world's most influential technology event. The company continues to grow with the needs, and values of its customer base, which is increasingly spending more on sustainable consumer goods. To share its latest sustainability efforts, P&G is unveiling a new "Life Lab" at CES. For more on this exhibit, Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at P&G, joins Cheddar News.
In the fight against climate change, much of the conversation revolves around reducing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide or methane - and attempting to raise oxygen levels. But there's another gas - hydrogen - that could play a big role in the fight for the climate. Marco Alvera, CEO of Italian energy infrastructure company Snam and author of the book, 'The Hydrogen Revolution,' joined Cheddar Climate to explain the role hydrogen plays in helping achieve a net-zero future.
Vietnam's first global automaker is coming to the United States. VinFast unveiled the company's full EV lineup of five models at CES 2022. A reservation program for its first two electric vehicles, the VF 326 and the VF e35, officially opened on Wednesday, with the company set to announce the vehicle's retail prices in the U.S. and Vietnamese markets. VinFast is also one of the world's first automakers to apply blockchain technologies to the process of certifying reservations, payments, and eventually vehicle ownership. VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
AT&T and Verizon have agreed to delay activating their 5G services for two weeks after Airlines for America, a lobbying group that represents American, Delta, and other airlines, filed a petition last week with the FCC to stop the deployment of 5G in the U.S. over concerns that the network can interfere with certain systems on airplanes. President Biden spoke out about it, saying it would avoid further delays and cancellations of flights. Light Reading 5G and Mobile Strategies Director Mike Dano joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Liz Mann, EY Americas Cybersecurity Consulting Leader, joins Cheddar News to discuss the state of cybersecurity in 2022, ways to implement preventative cybersecurity practices, and what the next generation of authentication looks like.
