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.
CES, the world’s largest annual tech trade show kicked off in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Cheddar News speaks with Ian Sherr, editor at large for CNET, about this year’s biggest trends.
At a time when banks in countries like Australia and Spain are offering customers cryptocurrency assets for the first time, Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, believes we're going to see more financial institutions across the world unveil their crypto solutions this year after developing them behind the scenes last year. He joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The new year has just gotten underway, but the clock is already ticking for the Democratic-led Congress to pass bills regulating big tech. Evan Greer, Director for Fight For the Future, joins Cheddar News to explain why Democratic lawmakers would want to push legislation now, and what a Republican takeover would mean for the industry.
Americans looking to purchase at-home COVID-19 tests will now have to shell out a bit more money after an agreement expired between the White House and companies to sell the tests at cost. The price of Abbot's BinaxNow test kit from October to December was $14 apiece; on Tuesday, Walmart's website listed the test for $19.88, and Kroger listed the tests for $23.99. Carbon Health Regional Clinical Director Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the impact higher prices will have as the nation experiences another surge in cases.
2022 is set to be a big year for autonomous technology. After many new partnerships, acquisitions, and developments in 2021, all eyes will be on the self-driving sector to see what progress, or lack there-of, will be made this year. Soroush Salehian, CEO and co-founder of Aeva, gives a look at what's ahead for the industry.
The largest tech convention in the world kicks off this week. CES, organized by the Consumer Technology Association, will run from Wednesday Jan. 5 through Friday Jan. 7, featuring more than 2,000 exhibitors showing off their latest tech products in Las Vegas. Ian Sherr, editor at large at CNET, gives a first look at some of the biggest trends expected this year.
Verizon and AT&T have agreed to delay the launch of their 5G networks for two weeks following pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration, airline companies and even Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The aviation industry is concerned the 5G rollout could bring technical challenges or safety concerns on top of the current disruptions they're already dealing with from COVID and severe weather. Hugh Odom, founder and president of Vertical Consultants and former AT&T attorney, discusses how the Biden administration was able to come to this agreement with the wireless carriers.
Angelo Zino, Senior Industry Analyst & Vice President at CFRA Research, breaks down the tech giants' valuation milestone and discusses the areas of Apple's business that could see further growth.
General Motors rolled out the newest addition to its EV fleet with the all-electric Silverado pickup truck. Deborah Wahl, chief marketing officer at GM, joined Cheddar to talk about the latest EV offering and how it matches up to its past gas-powered versions. She said she expects demand to soar after the "first-level truck" sold out in just 12 minutes and talked about steps GM plans to take to regain its title as top U.S. auto seller after being dethroned by Toyota in 2021 with emphasis on the EV market. "I think this is an exciting new inflection point for the market overall, for [an] idea of an all-electric future, and certainly shows that we're extremely committed to the idea of everybody in an electric vehicle," said Wahl.
