Published By: Government Technology, 1/11/2017

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Summary

Kaspersky Lab held a contest for researchers exploring the use of blockchain accounting to verify electronic voting. The goals included secure methods of counting votes and managing transactions.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of Article: 10.5

Extended Discussion Questions

• In the most recent presidential election, various media sources claim that voting data was manipulated. As a future voter, how do you feel about the current security measures used in the U.S. voting systems? Do you feel they are safe enough?
• If blockchain methods can deliver sensitive financial information securely throughout the network, do you feel that it must therefore be able to handle personal information and ballot counts securely? Why or why not?
• Some of the more radical proposals fielded by Kaspersky would enable voting from home.
  • If election departments implemented this idea, what effects could it have on voters who cannot come to the polls?
  • What effects could it have on voters who don’t have Internet connections?
• If an Internet-based voting system replaced polling places, what potential concerns might arise? Could the use of blockchain verification provide a solution for these concerns?
• What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using blockchain to count votes over traditional hand-counted paper ballots? What about more modern methods, like machine-readable paper ballots and the current generation of electronic voting machines?

Relating This Story to the CSP Curriculum Framework

Global Impact Learning Objectives:

• LO 7.1.1 Explain how computing innovations affect communication, interaction, and cognition.
• LO 7.3.1 Analyze the beneficial and harmful effects of computing.

Global Impact Essential Knowledge:

• EK 7.1.1N The Internet and the Web have changed many areas, including e-commerce, health care, access to information and entertainment, and online learning.
• EK 7.3.1A Innovations enabled by computing raise legal and ethical concerns.

Other CSP Big Ideas:

• Idea 6 The Internet

Banner Image: “Network Visualization – Violet – Offset Crop”, derivative work by ICSI. New license: CC BY-SA 4.0. Based on “Social Network Analysis Visualization” by Martin Grandjean. Original license: CC BY-SA 3.0