The blockchain electronic voting system was a success. Representatives of the university, as well as the interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, consider that the process can run on a larger scale.
The Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University, in Bolivia, held an election experience with electronic voting, using blockchain technology. Among the advantages of this technology are that it is secure, it stores information in an unalterable way, and voters could participate from home, only with an Internet connection.
One of the representatives of this project is Gabriela Melendrez Alaro, Founder of Bolivian Mind Blockchain (BMB) and co-founder of AsoBlockchain Bolivia, dedicated to devising, developing, and implementing blockchain solutions in the country.
Among the objectives of this project is to show citizens that it is possible to participate in elections without going to a voting center, that is, without the need for a physical presence. This would be of great help during the Covid-19 pandemic when the majority of the population remains at home to avoid further contagion.
“This initiative was born from being able to choose the university directive of fourth-year students of Law, motivated by their professor, Luis Américo Ayala Romero, who teaches Computer Law,” Gabriela Melendrez explained.
The initiative started on June 8th. The process consisted of opening applications, reviewing the electoral roll, closing applications, presenting the electoral roll, and creating unique codes for each voter. Organizers then shared these codes with voters, along with a link to cast the vote.
Before conducting the process, the organizers prepared an informative and training session so that participants could learn how to vote electronically.
Melendrez Alaro said that to make the elections possible, they worked in the necessary coordination with the university. One of the representatives of the university who participated in this project was Professor Américo Ayala, who along with Grover Leandro Suntura and Luis Cristián Rivas, members of the Bitcoin Community in Bolivia, were in charge of the logistics process for this meeting.
“I contacted the Polys team to learn more about the platform and determine the viability, according to the requirements of our process. Due to its different advantages, we opted for the Polys platform,” said Melendrez. The university celebrated the elections last June 18th from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The results were ready just half an hour later, at 3:30 in the afternoon.
“The process achieved voter acceptance and reliability, according to a post-voting poll. Explaining how and where the platform would store the vote of the participants, and the speed to obtain the total number of votes, the transparency of the process was confirmed,” said Gabriela Melendrez.
The founder of Bolivian Mind Blockchain added that this electoral process is scalable in population, in addition to becoming an example of the use of this new technology. The university authorities were happy with the new electronic voting system and assured that the process could serve as a reference to future scenarios with larger populations in Bolivian.
The interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, said, last June 21st, that they expect some of the political leaders to raise the possibility of conducting electronic voting with Blockchain technology for the elections next September 6th.
By María Rodríguez
