A group of students from Lethbridge University, Canada has embarked on a quest to build a blockchain protocol which would improve virtual voting and interaction with the government.
According to the students, the main aim of the protocol is to enable broad participation in virtual voting across the country while bringing the benefits of online banking into politics.
The tech startup, Veras, says it would build the protocol that would mark a significant turning point in voting activities and political interaction. The students, who are the core members of the startup said that the new protocol is called “Blockchain Smart Voting System”.
Since the idea to create the protocol was conceived in 2019, the students have been working ardently to make it a reality.
The virtual voting idea was born out of the need to tackle untrustworthy voting across Africa
The group of students of Veras startup went ahead to test their virtual voting innovation at the “150 Startup Innovation Radeo” where they won the competition and clinched the first place prize of $10,000.
Additionally, they were also invited to take part in a five-week event at Silicon Valley based Draper University in 2021. Talking about the idea behind the innovation, the group of students said it was born out of the need to eliminate the paper voting system because of the inefficiencies involved.
According to the CEO, he was discussing with his roommate and fellow members of the company on the kind of elections that takes place in Africa while describing it as untrustworthy.
Veras wants to use the virtual voting platform to improve the voters turnout
Before the platform was created, the group of students reached out to the parties involved in the voting process, including mayors and discovered that one obstacle was having voters turn out to vote. Another problem was the accessibility issue where voters had to travel miles before they reach a voting centre.
The new platform will look to mirror the way online banking works as voters would be able to cast their votes from the comfort of their homes. If this is done, then Canada will be able to use virtual voting as a weapon to tackle low voters turnout in the country.
