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I’d suggest checking out sites like this to get an understanding of how blockchain works:

We’re used to thinking about data all residing in one central spot so all someone has to do it get access to modify it and not get caught. But if the data is replicated in many places and there’s a mechanism by which they are all up to date, it becomes much more secure. Plus, everyone has a record of every change that’s ever been made, so any one repository can be restored.

From a voting standpoint, our main concern is that everyone who is eligible to vote can do so (only once!) and that no one can tamper with the vote totals. Blockchain is ideal for this because it is transaction-based. I haven’t read the USPS patent, but let’s say I want to vote, so I request a ballot. That is the start of the transaction, and every piece of the network knows I’ve made a request to vote. If I’m validated another transaction would occur for each vote I cast (or however it’s implemented). Again the data is replicated across the network so it’s virtually impossible to alter it without others knowing.

Some smart person tweeted “If you wouldn’t send cash through the mail, why would you send your vote that way?”. Since blockchain is the basis of digital currency, it’s the other way around - if a system is reliable and trustworthy enough to handle large sums of money, it is secure enough to handle voting.

well done!

Thanks for those blockchain links, bigbob. Fascinating. Knowledge about it = 0.

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/usps-just-filed-patent-blockchain-based-secure-voting-system

Thanks, bb. That makes it a lot more clear for me. So is this something that could be in play for this election cycle?

bm