Nick Spanos: Armenia is arming itself for blockchain paper ballot voting revolution

Founder and CEO of Blockchain Technologies Corporation Nick Spanos returned to Yerevan in August to advise Armenian government officials on conducting upcoming elections using paper ballots with blockchain technologies.

Nick Spanos who has 35 years of experience in elections and over eight years of experience in blockchain and digital currencies previously visited the country in January, when he spoke with students and members of the Armenian National Assembly. He felt compelled to immediately open a branch office in Yerevan.

“I am humbled to return to a country of these young victorious revolutionaries,” he said in an exclusive interview to Itel.am. “The first shot from Armenia heard around the world came from its peaceful velvet revolution. Armenia’s second will be the blockchain paper ballot revolution.”

“Paper ballots are important so that every person trusts and understands how their vote gets cast and counted,” explained Nick Spanos. “Recording the results on the blockchain preserves the immutability of each vote cast and preserves the chain of custody of each individual ballot.”

Blockchain Technologies Corporation CEO holds the first and only granted U.S. and foreign patent for blockchain voting. His VoteWatcher / VoteUnits technology has been in use since 2014 in party state conventions in New York and Texas, as well as in numerous other presidential straw polls.

Nick Spanos describes VoteWatcher / VoteUnits as a fully transparent blockchain-based system that uses air-gapped paper ballot scanning machines, which use blockchain technologies to tally votes and keep an immutable record of the election.

Votes are received through a barcode scanner or a voter interface system and are stored securely on private and public blockchains. The tally for various candidates in the election is updated and stored as each vote is counted. “This creates an auditable immutable trail of votes and the tally which can be used to detect, correct, and prevent fraud and error in the vote counting process,” reads the text of the patent.

“This transparency revolution ushers in a new age in which blockchain technologies empower citizens to hold their governments accountable. Who else but the bold velvet revolutionaries of Armenia will carry this velvet flag of transparency into the incredible and inevitable future?” Nick Spanos concluded.

Narine Daneghyan talked to Nick Spanos