If you’ve ever discovered it unusual that trendy society managed to determine how you can use the web to facilitate the sale of tens of millions of {dollars} value of GIFs however nonetheless can’t appear to implement safe on-line voting, then you definately’re not alone. The United States Postal Service, which isn’t usually identified for its future-forward method to expertise, reportedly tried to pursue a blockchain-based cell voting system previous to the 2020 election according to The Washington Post.

Though particular particulars across the now-defunct challenge are scarce, the USPS offered a primary imaginative and prescient of what a blockchain-based voting system might appear like on this August 2020 patent. If carried out, the voting would have occurred anonymously through a cell app with every vote recorded in a number of digital areas on the similar time.

In an announcement to Gizmodo, A USPS spokesperson mentioned the system the patent was based mostly on was “exploratory” in nature and was deserted in 2019. “Blockchain technology’s potential to strengthen digital transaction security is a concept we have explored on our journey to better meet our customers’ current and future needs, and to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds,” the spokesperson mentioned. “But we don’t have plans to advance this system.”

USPS’s concept reportedly diverged from different U.S. federal businesses who have been additionally engaged on election safety measures following the fallout of the 2016 election, although they have been centered totally on tried and true paper ballots. The system didn’t make it far although after researchers from the University of Colorado at Colorado Spring reportedly discovered quite a few potential vulnerabilities after they used it throughout a mock election.

Not mincing phrases, a kind of researchers advised the Post they believed the blockchain system really brought on extra issues than it solved.

Election safety specialists have for years warned in opposition to the impulse to implement internet-based voting programs for fears they may pose a vector for malicious assaults, or probably lower belief and transparency across the election system. That final concern rings very true when tens of millions of U.S. voters say they don’t imagine the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election.

According to a January Morning Consult survey, lower than 35% of GOP voters mentioned they trusted U.S. elections. Part of this mistrust was probably amplified by the pandemic-induced rise in mail-in votes. A sharper pivot to on-line voting dangers heightening mistrust even additional. Other teams nonetheless, like NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice have expressed concerns that funds for on-line voting measures would chip away at these wanted to bolster field-examined voting programs.

“The Brennan Center has recommended that Congress allocate $4 billion to help state and local governments implement the necessary upgrades just to protect voters from both the coronavirus and cyberattacks this year,” Lawrence Norden, The Brennan Center’s Director of the Election Reform Program mentioned. “That’s where all available resources need to go.”

This isn’t totally uncharted territory in follow. Alaska, Washington DC, and the Department of Defense have all examined out restricted pilot variations of distant voting programs prior to now however deserted these after specialists cited potential safety lapses. Meanwhile, final 12 months The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI, and several other different federal businesses launched an assessment citing excessive threat related to on-line or cell voting applied sciences.

“Securing the return of voted ballots via the internet while ensuring ballot integrity and maintaining voter privacy is difficult, if not impossible, at this time,” the businesses decided. “If election officials choose or are mandated by state law to employ this high-risk process, its use should be limited to voters who have no other means to return their ballot and have it counted.”

All these issues haven’t stopped some states from attempting their hand at on-line voting nonetheless. During the pandemic, cell voting programs have been utilized in restricted circumstances in West Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey, nevertheless, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered a number of vulnerabilities within the programs and claimed they posed “a severe risk to election security.”