Zug, a Swiss city which is famous for being adoptive towards blockchain technology, has made an announcement claiming that it is about to launch a blockchain voting pilot. This means that besides regular polling option there will be an e-voting system present this year as well. The new system will be based on a previous feature, the eID system which was established last November and already has 200 users.

So how does the eID work? Users download the uPort ID app from the Apple Store and create an account. The app creates a unique private key on the user’s phone and deploy two smart contracts on the Ethereum network that serves as the user’s identity hub. Users private keys manage a controller contract that allow its owners to recover access to the identity if phone is lost or stolen. The controller contract in turn has access to the identity contract.

With this setup, it is technically impossible to lose access to an identity and to all the data associated to it, not even if private keys are lost. More information regarding uPort’s core architecture and identity contract are available here .

Residents of the city will be using their eID to vote on a blockchain-based test. The idea is to analyze whether it is possible to use the blockchain technology for referendums and voting processes. The vote is not political, subjects including whether citizens want to use digital identifications for paying parking fees or borrow library books. Once the voting is done, local authorities could start to analyze whether the process could be implemented to use in political areas or not.

Zug is also known as “Crypto Valley” as there are numerous bockchain startups there, moreover, the city is already accepting cryptocurrencies to pay for some of the services provided by the city and by entrepreneurs as well.