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+0Blockchains Are Not Safe For Voting, Concludes NAP Report (nytimes.com) null/SLASHDOT/0102640864 70\r
+i Thursday September 06, 2018 @11:30PM (BeauHD)\r
+i from the ensuring-the-integrity-of-elections dept.\r
+i\r
+i The National Academies Press has released a 156-page report,\r
+i called "Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy,"\r
+i concluding that blockchains are not safe for the U.S. election\r
+i system. "While the notion of using a blockchain as an\r
+i immutable ballot box may seem promising, blockchain technology\r
+i does little to solve the fundamental security issues of\r
+i elections, and indeed, blockchains introduce additional\r
+i security vulnerabilities," the report states. "In particular,\r
+i if malware on a voter's device alters a vote before it ever\r
+i reaches a blockchain, the immutability of the blockchain fails\r
+i to provide the desired integrity, and the voter may never know\r
+i of the alteration." The report goes on to say that\r
+i "Blockchains do not provide the anonymity often ascribed to\r
+i them." It continues: "In the particular context of elections,\r
+i voters need to be authorized as eligible to vote and as not\r
+i having cast more than one ballot in the particular election.\r
+i Blockchains do not offer means for providing the necessary\r
+i authorization. [...] If a blockchain is used, then cast\r
+i ballots must be encrypted or otherwise anonymized to prevent\r
+i coercion and vote-selling." The New York Times summarizes the\r
+i findings: The cautiously worded report calls for conducting\r
+i all federal, state and local elections on paper ballots by\r
+i 2020. Its other top recommendation would require nationwide\r
+i use of a specific form of routine postelection audit to ensure\r
+i votes have been accurately counted. The panel did not offer a\r
+i price tag for its recommended overhaul. New York University's\r
+i Brennan Center has estimated that replacing aging voting\r
+i machines over the next few years could cost well over $1\r
+i billion. The 156-page report [...] bemoans a rickety system\r
+i compromised by insecure voting equipment and software whose\r
+i vulnerabilities were exposed more than a decade ago and which\r
+i are too often managed by officials with little training in\r
+i cybersecurity. Among its specific recommendations was a\r
+i mainstay of election reformers: All elections should use\r
+i human-readable paper ballots by 2020. Such systems are\r
+i intended to assure voters that their vote was recorded\r
+i accurately. They also create a lasting record of "voter\r
+i intent" that can be used for reliable recounts, which may not\r
+i be possible in systems that record votes electronically. [...]\r
+i The panel also calls for all states to adopt a type of\r
+i post-election audit that employs statistical analysis of\r
+i ballots prior to results certification. Such "risk-limiting"\r
+i audits are designed to uncover miscounts and vote tampering.\r
+i Currently only three states mandate them.\r
+i\r
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