Mexico Selects Voatz for its 2024 National Elections

Exciting Milestone

Boston, MA, USA / Mexico City, Mexico – December 29, 2023: Voatz is honored to announce that INE (the National Electoral Commission of Mexico) has selected the Voatz election solution (alongside our local partners Ideeo Labs, S.A. de C.V and Comercializadora JVLY, S.A. de C.V.) for the June 2024 National/Presidential Elections in Mexico.

The solution will be targeted towards overseas Mexican citizens in several parts of the world by providing them an accessible remote voting solution for the upcoming elections. An in-person voting option at several Mexican consulates and other locations will also be provided.

According to this report, nearly 12 million Mexicans citizens live overseas and more than 97% live in the USA. We look forward to serving many of them as part of the elections later this year.

Voatz Rated as a Trusted Blockchain Solution for Elections

For Immediate Release

Washington DC – September 14, 2023: The Government Blockchain Association today announced that Voatz, a blockchain-based voting technology, has earned the designation of a Trusted Blockchain Solution after undergoing an independent assessment using the Blockchain Maturity Model (BMM).

Voatz’s Remote Accessible Ballot Delivery, Marking, and Return (RABDMR) blockchain solution has been a game-changer in election implementations worldwide, successfully supporting diverse elections, including political party and presidential elections in the United States and internationally.

The assessment of Voatz’s RABDMR solution was conducted using the Blockchain Maturity Model (BMM), a framework developed by the Government Blockchain Association and recognized by the United Nations Internet Governance Forum Dynamic Coalition on Blockchain Assurance & Standardization.

Voatz specializes in providing highly secure and accessible voting solutions for overseas citizens, military personnel, diplomats, first responders and citizens with disabilities. The solution leverages mobile devices, biometrics, hardware-based security and blockchain technology to create a private and convenient voting experience for these critical demographics.

Gerard Dache, Executive Director of GBA, lauded Voatz, stating, “Voatz has earned the designation as a trusted blockchain solution because of their steadfast commitment to secure and accessible elections”. He added, “Voatz has now joined the ranks of globally recognized trusted blockchain solutions featured on the United Nations Blockchain Assurance & Standardization Dynamic Coalition website”.

Nimit Sawhney, Co-Founder/CEO of Voatz stated, “The Voatz team is thrilled to be the first election solution to complete this BMM assessment and achieve a trusted blockchain solution designation. We look forward to serving more governments/election officials globally and bringing more accessibility, transparency, and security to the electoral and e-governance infrastructure”.

The assessment was carried out by a team of GBA-qualified senior-level experts specializing in blockchain technology, legal matters, regulatory compliance, and election processes. This team employed a comprehensive framework and a rigorous assessment methodology that evaluates the voting solution from eleven distinct perspectives, including Distribution, Governance, Identity Management, Interoperability, Performance, Privacy, Reliability, Resilience, Security, Infrastructure Sustainability, and Synchronization.

Voatz’s dedication to providing secure and inclusive voting solutions has received further validation with this recognition. At a time when election security and accessibility are paramount concerns, Voatz’s RABDMR solution shines as a beacon of trustworthiness and innovation in the blockchain-based voting landscape.

— For more information about Voatz and its groundbreaking solutions, please visit https://voatz.com.

— To learn more about the Blockchain Maturity Model and its applications, visit https://www.gbaglobal.org/blockchain-maturity-model.

— For additional insights into the United Nations Internet Governance Forum Dynamic Coalition on Blockchain Assurance & Standardization, please visit https://intgovforum.org/en/content/dynamic-coalition-on-blockchain-assurance-and-standardization-dc-bas.

About Voatz:

Voatz is an award winning mobile-first elections platform backed by cutting-edge security, biometrics and a blockchain-backed infrastructure. Since its inception, Voatz has successfully served more than 2.3 million voters across 125 elections in 6 countries. In 2018, Voatz ran the first mobile vote in US Federal Election history, and, in 2020, Voatz became the first smartphone app based system to be used for voting in the US Presidential Elections. Voatz was recently selected by 15 cities in Canada for the 2022 Ontario Municipal Elections.

About the Government Blockchain Association (GBA):

The Government Blockchain Association (GBA) is a global nonprofit organization that facilitates the adoption of blockchain technology in government and public sector organizations. GBA’s mission is to educate and empower public sector professionals to understand, adopt, and utilize blockchain technology for more efficient, secure, and transparent government services.

Our 1st Election in Europe

For Immediate Release

Boston, MA – January 31, 2023: Voatz announces the successful completion of its very first election in Europe. Nearly 50,000 members of the United National Movement (UNM) in Georgia used the Voatz platform to register for the election and vote successfully in a safe, private manner for the position of the party chairperson.

How It Worked: 
This was the first-of-its-kind undertaking, allowing Georgian citizens to digitally participate in a major political party’s election at home and overseas. This election’s success amidst the massive threats from a major nation state threat actor next-door will serve as a road map for citizens across the world seeking a similar democratic action without being intimidated or coerced to vote a certain way. 

The registration and voting platform was accessible through smartphone applications, web browser applications, and was also integrated with a Facebook based verification system for party members. Participation was made convenient, accessible through the platform’s intuitive design and tutorials for those who needed additional help.

Technology Overview:
The Elections Organizing Committee of the UNM in Georgia tasked Voatz with making this a secure, accessible voting system that would inspire trust and confidence among party members who were skeptical of their ability to conduct a fair election. Eligible party members were verified using a unique Facebook based verification mechanism. Voatz also provided a secure registration system for party members to pass an initial eligibility vetting process managed by the campaigns of all the candidates participating in the election. Voatz helped maintain voter anonymity, train voters, and party administrators, and facilitated a post-election risk-limiting audit using the blockchain.  

Results: 
Nearly 50000 party members participated in the election for the UNM Chairperson.

Security: 
Given the sensitive nature of the project, Voatz was prepared to operate in the presence of cyber threats. The Voatz platform performed resiliently by identifying and blocking attacks as they occurred. Threats seen frequently in the field were broadly in the following categories – DNS tampering attempts, email spoofing, denial of service attacks, SMS blocking, man-in-the-middle attacks, device malware, suspicious mobile application, and unsafe wireless connections.

The Digital Democracy Project officially kicks off in Florida

All registered voters in the State of Florida can participate.

Ever wish you could tell your legislators exactly how to vote? Well, now you can! 

The Digital Democracy Project is live. All registered Florida voters can visit here to get started.

Once voters submit their (secret) votes, the tally and other insightful statistics are available here.

The legislator scorecard can be viewed here.

Voatz is providing the secure voting technology for this project and is proud to be a part of this initiative led by Ramon Perez and his team.

Voatz Successfully Completes Its 2022 Elections in the US & Canada

For Immediate Release

Boston, MA / North Bay, ON – November 11, 2022: Voatz announces the successful completion of its elections in the US and Canada as part of the 2022 election cycle. Nearly half a million voters were eligible to use the Voatz system during this election cycle across multiple jurisdictions.

Voatz Track Record

As of this release, Voatz has successfully completed 115 elections and enabled more than 2.1 million voters to cast their ballots in a secure, accessible manner using the convenience of their personal devices. The Voatz team is extremely grateful for the trust and support it has received from various election officials, administrators and voters globally.

“Our team has been working tirelessly to expand access and security in elections.” said a Voatz spokesperson. “We strongly believe that technologies such as ours can play a significant role in rebuilding trust and making the electoral process safer and truly accessible for all. The groundwork to conduct large scale online elections has now been laid and we are super excited to embrace the opportunities ahead.”

Voatz is at the forefront of providing accessible, secure remote voting for all citizens and has established itself as a global leader in delivering successful elections especially in high threat scenarios. Its award winning mobile first election system continues to receive high praise from citizens and administrators alike.

Voatz Testimonial
Voatz Testimonial

About Voatz 

Voatz is an award-winning mobile elections platform that leverages cutting-edge technology (including remote identity verification, biometrics and a blockchain-based infrastructure) to increase access, auditability and security in elections. Since 2016, Voatz has served more than 2.1 millions voters across 115 elections with national/state/municipal governments, universities, nonprofits, and major state political parties. Voatz specializes in delivering successful elections in high threat environments.

Key Milestone – Our 100th Election

On September 26th 2022, we kicked off our 100th election which also happened to be our first ever governmental election in Ontario, Canada.

As a new entrant to the Canadian market, we are delighted to be pioneering mobile first voting (running on a blockchain backed infrastructure) in the 2022 Ontario Municipal Elections across several jurisdictions.

Voatz 100th Election - 1st in Canada

We are grateful for the trust placed in us by election officials, administrators and electors. We look forward to a highly successful election cycle this year.

Updated 10/25/22 – Turnout in this milestone election increased from 38.46% (in 2018 where Voatz wasn’t used) to 43.55% in 2022. See details below:

Government Blockchain Association Releases Draft Standards for Remote Voting

Pioneering work towards standards development led by election officials and cybersecurity experts starts taking shape.

The GBA has released two products in August 2022 as part of this exercise. Multiple members of the Voatz team participated in this year long process and shared their expertise based on the extensive learnings from the field.

  • The GBA assembled industry experts to debate remote digital voting at an event called Blockchain & VotingConsequently, the participants agreed to draft a report comparing the functional and security considerations of available remote ballot return methods. The report can be downloaded at Remote Election Technology Report.

Read more on the GBA’s website here.

The City of Chandler Completes Successful Mobile Voting Pilot with Voatz

“This pilot program will help us identify the feasibility and interest of using this technology in future City elections, and Council believes this could enhance accessibility, increase voter participation and streamline the election process,” according to Mayor Kevin Hartke.

As part of the pilot program, officials with the City of Chandler asked residents to download an app and vote in the mock election, where those who participated answered questions about city bonds, and whether or not they’d use the technology in a real election.

The results, as well as the auditing process, was instantaneous.

“You remember in 2018 and 2020, we had these ballot dumps in the middle of the night, and these big events where we didn’t know the results for weeks. With blockchain, it’s instantaneous and it’s auditable,” said Chandler Vice Mayor Mark Stewart.

The results were audited in real-time, printing and matching ballots from the online ledger.

Case Study: Venezuela

The challenging political environment in Venezuela reached a crisis point in December 2020, when Juan Guaidó (the internationally recognized leader) and the National Assembly challenged incumbent Nicolás Maduro’s presidency through a referendum: a popular consultation with its citizens. It was also an historic moment, as the call for change came from Venezuelans both inside and outside the country  – since 2014, over five million Venezuelans have fled the country amid the violence and threats of the Maduro regime. Giving all these citizens a voice – and a vote – in a safe, secure, and auditable manner was the essential ingredient in challenging Maduro and his stranglehold on the country.

It was amidst this sensitive landscape that Boston-based mobile voting platform Voatz was selected by members of the Organizing Committee of the Popular Consultation (of Venezuela), on behalf of President Guaidó and the National Assembly, as the digital platform to conduct a free and fair referendum for Venezuelan voters between Dec 7th through Dec 12th, 2020.

How It Worked: 
This was the first-of-its-kind undertaking, allowing Venezuelans to digitally participate in a citizen’s consultation (referendum) at home and overseas – a breakthrough in modern democracy. This effort’s overwhelming response and success will serve as a road map for citizens across the world seeking a similar democratic action. 

The consultation platform was accessible through smartphone applications, web browser applications, and tablet applications and was also integrated with a third-party bot-based provider on Telegram. Participation was made convenient, accessible through the platform’s intuitive design and tutorials for those who needed additional help. The ballot asked three simple questions, allowing Venezuelans to safely and independently express support for President Guaidó and the National Assembly. 

Technology Overview:
The Organizing Committee of the Popular Consultation tasked Voatz with making this a secure, accessible voting system that would inspire trust and confidence among Venezuelans. Eligible citizens were verified using Venezuelan national IDs and live selfies. Voatz also provided a secure API for special access to bots running on encrypted messaging apps such as  Telegram, helped maintain voter anonymity, train voters, and poll workers, and facilitated a post-election risk-limiting audit using the blockchain.  

Results: 
Nearly 6.5 million people participated in the referendum, with more than 1.7 million of those processed digitally through the Voatz platform, which makes this the largest voting exercise to use a mobile application and run on blockchain technology. Voters participated from 60 countries worldwide; more than 50% of the voters used smartphones (Android – 42%, iPhone -14%). An independent audit was conducted sampling 10% of the ballots to confirm that votes were cast and counted as intended. 100% of the ovals matched, thereby providing a high degree of statistical assurance regarding the accuracy of the final results. 

Security: 
Given the sensitive nature of the project, Voatz was prepared to operate in the presence of cyber threats. The Voatz platform performed resiliently by identifying and blocking attacks as they occurred. Threats seen frequently in the field were broadly in the following categories – DNS tampering attempts, email spoofing, denial of service attacks, SMS blocking, man-in-the-middle attacks, device malware, suspicious mobile application, and unsafe wireless connections.

Social Media:

Media Coverage:
Associated Press: Maduro opponents claim big turnout in Venezuelan protest
France 24: Venezuela’s Guaido launches ‘popular consultation’ as Maduro tightens grip on power

Who benefits from mobile voting?

While the pandemic has highlighted the desperate need for better remote voting options in the United States and other parts of the world, for many groups this lack of options is not a new concern. Voters with disabilities, overseas military personnel, Native Americans, and so many others lack equal access to the ballot during every single election – COVID-19 has only exacerbated an existing problem. Offering well-tested alternatives to traditional in-person and mail-in voting methods serves only to make our elections more equal and fair.

Bottom line: All citizens deserve access to a safe, secure, and accessible method of voting remotely – mobile voting can help us get there. 

To experience a full download of this graphic—with detailed explanations of how each demographic can benefit from mobile voting – click the button below.