Ukraine could be preparing to include Blockchain in its elections

The Blockchain technology has proven to be incredibly versatile. From cryptocurrencies to document authentication, block chains have become the new alternative for a large number of processes, including those related to elections.

Already several companies around the world have used Blockchain to support their internal electoral processes, especially those related to the election of new authorities or to know the opinion of workers on a specific issue.

In view of the success that this technology has had in the electoral field, some governments have begun to consider it for their national elections, and Ukraine is one of them.

A member of the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine has initiated investigations into the use of this technology in the country's elections. Olejsandr Stelmakh, the official in question, announced on Tuesday that he is working on a simulated suffrage process, with the aim of measuring how efficient it is to use Blockchain for this particular task.

To achieve this, Stelmakh partnered with the NEM Foundation, which allowed him to use his Blockchain to carry out this experiment.

But, why is the block chain a good option to sustain an electoral process? Stelmakh explains that "one of the useful basic properties of Blockchain is the impossibility of making changes to the stored information ... These are the properties that we try to use to store the information of the local voting sessions," according to CoinDesk.

The idea is that Blockchain is used, at least in the test, to create an immutable record that helps solve the problems that normally arise when counting the final counts.

It is important to mention that coupling to the new technology has a cost. According to the estimates of the Ukrainian, would be necessary to invest approximately 1,227 dollars for each node that can be used to vote, counting that they will be installed in each police station. Although, for Stelmakh, this is only a small price to pay in exchange for innovation.

It should be noted that Ukraine is not the only country that has seen in Blockchain a new opportunity for its electoral system. In Zug, Switzerland, a couple of months ago, non-binding elections were held based on blockchain technology, where people were asked about trivial issues, as if they wanted fireworks to be launched in the city one day. The purpose of this was that you could serve as a pilot test for future elections of government authorities.