Secure and Transparent

Govurn, the SaaS governance provider has just made a massive leap with their blockchain voting system. They just concluded the first blockchain-based election. This exercise was for RChain Cooperative‘s annual board of directors’ election.

The history of modern business is replete with scandals. Enron scandal rocked the corporate world in 2001. However, other scandals quickly followed. 2002 brought WorldCom, Waste Management Inc., and Tyco International Ltd. scandals. Enron and WorldCom scandals prompted the US Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The spotlight turned decisively on corporate governance. Still, scandals continue.

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The Equifax data breach scandal of 2017 is fresh in memory. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office recently fined Facebook for the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The challenges are more profound than most people think. Companies understand the importance of corporate governance. However, the implementation needs improvement. Diligent, the governance cloud platform company has a few important observations on this. For example, they quote an Ernst & Young (EY) report to state that the implementation of corporate governance lacks consistency.

Shareholder voting is a crucial area. Shareholders have their voting rights. However, they don’t always exercise it. Christopher P. Skroupa, the investment and governance expert shows the impact of less voting in a Forbes article. Absentee shareholders can avail proxy voting rights. However, it’s a lengthy process. Confidence in corporate voting isn’t high. The situation calls for technology solutions that offer transparency and security.

This is a proper use case for the blockchain technology. The technology offers resilience against hackers since it employs consensus algorithms. It also uses modern cryptography to protect data. Not surprisingly, an increasing number of blockchain start-ups are trying to address the voting use case.

A Partnership for Better Voting

The RChain Cooperative is working on a blockchain platform to facilitate social and commercial coordination. The cooperative members vote to decide on the future direction of the organization. Members can vote on proposals. Furthermore, they can elect the board of directors. The voting for electing four directors took place on 22nd and 23rd October using a blockchain voting system.

Govurn has a partnership with Forum Cooperative. Forum Cooperative provides the blockchain technology platform for voting, whereas Govurn contributes their governance expertise. It’s a valuable partnership. Together, they offer a voting mechanism that’s secure, verifiable, and persistent. As partners, they design, implement, and manage this blockchain voting system.

Cision PRWeb has quoted Karl Kurrle, the CEO of Govurn in a report. Karl is upbeat about the project and says: “It is an exciting and necessary time to create technology for better democracy, and an honor to be implementing the first ever blockchain-based election for RChain Coop. It shows the progress and impact of the RChain Ecosystem.”

The blockchain technology promises to transform elections. However, it needs to demonstrate the capability. Identity verification, ballot counting, managing the voter queue, etc. are crucial. The Govurn/Forum Cooperative partnership made important progress here. The RChain Cooperative election was the first using a blockchain voting system. We can expect the technology to make a mark in this area now that it has proved its’ mettle. Incidentally, South Korea is exploring the use of blockchain to conduct elections.