Polls are closed on May 8 in West Virginia’s primary election where blockchain assisted voting platform has been used by a group of selected voters together with regular ballots, Ethnews reported today .
Day after the polls were closed Mike Queen, Communications Director for West Virginia’s Secretary of State Mac Warner, said:
“Blockchain does provide a heightened level of security on this type of mobile voting app…We're genuinely hoping that will allow this type of a mobile app to be made available in the future – as early perhaps as our general election – to military voters."
System will be audited by Voatz, who developed the voting system, and representatives of Harrison and Monongalia counties where pilot system was tested. After the audit, it will be up to Secretary Warner to decide if the program should be used statewide for the upcoming general elections in November. Implementation might get green light from Senator Warner only if auditors agree that system is ready-to-go.
Queen said that Secretary’s office is “very encouraged so far today and we believe that [blockchain-based voting] is a real viable option...there are a lot of other states who are asking about this mobile voting solution and who are also interested in it."
By Nadya Astam