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.
Almost every industry now uses online shopping and ordering, but some products require a different packing material, and many times, shipping products can be wasteful. TemperPack aims to solve both issues with its ClimaCell liners, which you might recognize if you have ever ordered a meal subscription kit. Brian Powers, co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at TemperPack, joins Closing Bell to discuss TemperPack's ClimaCell liners, the company's sustainability mission, its corporate customer base, and more.
Uber and Lyft drivers are cruising in Washington State, the first U.S. state to set an earnings standard for drivers for the ride-hailing companies. Governor Jay Inslee signed the new minimum pay standard into law Thursday, which also gives drivers access to perks like paid sick time and family medical leave. John Logan, Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Carsten Koerl, CEO of Sportradar, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains how his company is bolstering the platforms of sports betting and streaming networks, and discusses basketball legend and Sportradar investor Michael Jordan's role in helping the company grow.
A new NFT network claims it is disrupting the art market, and is doing so by following in the footsteps of art legends Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Tripsters says it is creating a new and revolutionary concept in the NFT space, by allowing users to combine two NFTs in order to create a new third NFT. Tripsters says the feature will be compatible with multiple NFT collections in the future, but the first Tripsters' airdrop will be compatible with the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. Jayson Winer, co-founder of Tripsters, and Oskar Kowalski, a senior advisor for the startup, join Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Just a week after talks of him starting his own social media platform, Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter. The stock by resulted in a price surge for both Twitter and Tesla stocks, but questions are swirling about how much of an active stake this will be for the controversial figure who's had a fraught relationship with the platform over the years. Dan Ives, the managing director of equity research at Wedbush, joined Cheddar News to discuss. "I think this is a start of what's gonna really be a soap opera with Musk, either getting on the board or forcing significant strategic changes at Twitter," he noted.
Bees are responsible for the bulk of fruit and vegetable pollination — and they're negatively being affected by climate change. Tech startup Beewise is offering a solution with artificial intelligence to create robotic, autonomous hives to help the vulnerable bee populations. Saar Safra, co-founder & CEO, joined Cheddar News to talk about the company's recent $80 million to help make this project possible. "Our solution is not only hardware," he said. "Its software and biology all in one device. That's the challenge, and that's what sets us apart."
