As discussed in this report, my fellow Follow My Vote Co-founders, Nathaniel Hourt and Will Long, and I knew exactly what we needed to do next… procure grant funding for a decentralized application (dApp) development platform, which we had determined was a prerequisite to developing our secure online voting/polling software!

With this in mind, we put our heads together, developed an impressive grant application, and submitted a Project Pitch to the National Science Foundation’s America’s Seed Fund. As a result, we were invited to submit a full proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF)! However, the story doesn’t end there.

When shopping around for letters of intent the NSF required to submit the full proposal, another organization took a specific interest in our project and offered to provide us with an initial grant budget. We accepted!

That organization is PeerPlays!

PeerPlays is on a mission to humanize the crypto experience, making them a perfect fit for a collaboration with Follow My Vote. We see a paradigm shift on the horizon. With this dApp platform we are developing, we are essentially rebuilding the internet in ways that will change the way in which people communicate/interact with each other in the future. The software applications we use today will function in ways you can’t even imagine.

Now that we have received grant funding, our dApp platform development project is well underway!

It should be understood that the development of this dApp platform is no small undertaking and will likely be a project that spans across multiple years to complete, but rest assured, it will be worth the wait. We also want the world to know that this platform isn’t meant to be ours to own, rather a platform owned by the tech community at large. We’ll get it started, but the goal is to get everyone who’s interested in on the fun!

On that note, if you’re a developer interested in getting involved, be sure to Contact Us!

Over the last year, we also decided to abandon the pursuit of patenting our designs for a secure end-to-end verifiable blockchain-based voting system and method. In our heart of hearts, we decided that these designs were too important to keep to ourselves and released this intellectual property as gift to humanity.

With this move, we were really hoping to spark a new era of innovation in the voting space and foster collaboration between the technology vendors that exist, while encouraging a new wave of potential competitors to enter the voting arena and work toward building secure online voting solutions with true integrity. And, we did.

Upon releasing this IP, staying true to our word, we are now actively exploring partnership/collaboration opportunities in an effort to begin working on the political voting side of things in parallel to the dApp platform. In doing so, we hope to bring a secure and verifiable online voting solution to the people sooner rather than later. 

I’m also actively working with the Government Blockchain Association‘s Voting Working Group on developing the latest certification standards documentation for Mobile Voting Systems to be used internationally. We’ve had some passionate debates on our weekly calls, but things seem to be heading in the right direction.

The political voting side of things can be exciting and all, but keep in mind, we’re just trying to get ahead of things as much as possible. We know we must learn to crawl before we can walk.

To clarify, until this dApp platform is ready for prime time dApp development, our ideal voting system must be deferred in favor of smaller applications to test, refine, and prove out the platform. 

To this end, the first application we plan to launch of this kind on the dApp platform is Pollaris. In a recent announcement regarding Pollaris, we shared the following:

“Named after Polaris, the star which has guided navigators throughout ages past, this initial application will serve as our guiding light. Pollaris will help us to ensure that the platform we build adequately addresses the difficulties of developing blockchain-based applications while enabling us to test our design principles and guidelines to ensure that our solutions are indeed intuitive to people of all walks of life.

In practical terms, Pollaris is a simple polling application intended for use in communities to establish consensus on any issue they may face. The app will be used by administrators to gain insight into member sentiments on the issues at hand, enabling faithful management of the community’s resources in accordance with member preferences. Initial target markets for the app will include Homeowner’s Associations (HOAs) and collegiate student government organizations.”

If you’d like to get involved in the Pollaris project, our Co-Founder and CTO, Nathaniel Hourt, has designed a fun and unique DevChallenge to put your skills to the test. You can learn more here, while keeping in mind that you don’t actually need coding skills to compete. Although experience in app development will be helpful, a motivated individual with no prior development experience could reasonably complete this challenge.

In closing, it’s been an extremely exciting year for Follow My Vote. We’ve come a long way since this same time last year, but the journey continues. So, stay tuned!

NOTE: If you haven’t already done so, be sure to signup for our newsletter and follow us on social media.

The post The State of Follow My Vote -> 2021 Report appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Did you know that public ledgers have been used for centuries? Blockchain is essentially a more advanced digital version.

Image Source

Stephen Kendal is an advocate of blockchain technology & the applications the tech has for global financial markets and in particular the effects on derivatives & global trade.

Kendal recently wrote an article on Steemit.com detailing a great explanation for blockchain using old fashioned public ledgers:

IT’S JUST A DATABASE

Once you have managed to fix someone’s attention on a Database being nothing more than a digital list of records it is easily then to explain that this digital list of records is no different than the old fashioned written/typed ledger that were around before computers.

By simply breaking it down into bite sized chucks most people will be able to keep up.

Now that they are thinking of a written/typed ledger explain to them that in some occasions these ledgers were made public for everyone to see.

By simply referring back to the old fashioned Public Ledger that have been around for Centuries for the ones that struggle to understand what Blockchain is this is where you have to take them.

Now that they are focused on this old fashioned Public Ledger you are getting close to seal the deal and finally explain what Blockchain is.

PUT THE TWO TOGETHER

Having now explained and focusing their mind on Databases and Public Ledgers simply tell them to put the two together.

At this point you simply say that Blockhain is nothing more than a generic name for a Digital Distributed Public Ledger and is in essence a Database that is shared identically across a network of computers.

Read the full post on Steemit.com

About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post Public Ledgers Are Not New – Blockchain Technology Is Just a Digital Version appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Below is a video of his speech in its entirety:

Follow My Vote Co-Founder and CEO, Adam Ernest has been invited to speak at the Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis 2015 (HCPP2015) in Prague. (Paralelní Polis basically means alternative culture or underground) The Event is put on by the Institute of Cryptoanarchy. 

Hundreds of technology enthusiasts, tech-entrepreneurs, activists and blockchain lovers will attend the Hackers Congress to celebrate the age of digital freedom and decentralization.

Decentralization is a fundamental part of blockchain technology, which Follow My Vote uses to build the voting software of the future. A good many talks at the Hackers Congress will focus on decentralization. Other areas of focus will be the freedom movement, sharing economies, cryptocurrencies, political art, and hacking. There are more than 40 speakers attending the Hackers Congress.

“Speakers, Workshops, Drone Races, and a 3D-Printed Fashion Show”

– Bitcoin.com

Adam’s speech at the Hackers Congress In Prague will focus on end to end verifiable blockchain based voting. 

Follow My Vote Ambassador Kevin Flanagan Combs will also be giving a speech. Kevin is a Local Coordinator Manager at European Students for Liberty. 

The congress starts on Friday, 30th of September at 13:00 and ends on Sunday, 2nd of October at 18:00. The venue opens at 9:00 each day.

For a better idea of what the event will entail, here’s a video from Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis 2015 (HCPP2015):

Read more on the event and buy tickets here.

The post CEO Adam Ernest To Speak At Hackers Congress In Prague appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Stick with me, I know I had my doubts about this too. The ability for early joiners to make a lot of money sounds like a ponzi scheme, but Steemit has created some measures to keep the market from being volatile and increase it’s long-term viability.  This beautiful post on Steemit describes the long-term business model, and how Steemit is not going away. I’ve linked it but also I’ll provide an excerpt. Just a little background, there are three types of Steem Currency Units: Steem Power Units, Steem, and Steem Dollars.

“Owning Steem Power Units is essentially like making a long term investment in the currency because you can’t sell Steem Power Units for 2 years. But there are a lot of good reasons to have Steem Power.

By keeping your currency as Steem Power Units, you will be able to make considerably more money in the long run because you essentially have ownership in the network. As the network grows, so will your piece of the pie.

And you’ll be heavily rewarded along the way. The way things are set up now, 90% of the new Steem Currency that is generated every single day is distributed to the people who already hold Steem Power Units in the form of additional Steem Units. (The other 10% goes to content creators and curators).

Half of the pay you receive for your content will be in Steem Power Units.

Also, the more Steem Power Units you have, the more your curation vote will count. You will have more influence on the site and you will also get paid more for upvoting other people’s work. (When you upvote someone’s work, they will get paid more as well.)

Steem Power Units also play one final and very important role. They prevent massive price swings and volatility on the open markets. Because everyone is locked in for 2 years, we can’t all sell our currency all at once if the market starts to dip, which would crash the price were it to happen.”

The post Steemit – The future of Social Media appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State, Pedro Cortes, endorsed this move in a recent article, citing the cost savings and accessibility that online registration will provide eligible voters. He cites a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts in Arizona, which saw a decrease from 83 cents in processing a paper ballot, to 3 cents per online registration. A remarkable cost savings.

Those cost savings will be realized in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 county voter registration offices. Cost savings, though, are not the only benefit to counties. They can also expect greater efficiency in processing applications, leading to more accurate voter rolls.

Online voter registration will also eliminate the possibility of handwritten registrations being incorrectly filled out, or simply illegible. By registering online, a voter’s information will be processed and stored immediately at their county office.

So far, the move to allow online voter registration in Pennsylvania has resulted in a massive number of newly registered voters. According to an article from CBS Philadelphia, more than 10,000 eligible voters have signed up through the new system.

It seems that the cost savings, accessibility and transparency of allowing online voter registration will amount to a smashing success for the state. Keep up the good work, Pennsylvania!

Source: The Scranton Times-Tribune, CBS Philadelphia

About the author: Tyler Molihan is a Marketing Intern at Follow My Vote. He hopes to increase awareness about the benefits of online voting systems.

The post Birthplace of American Democracy Approves Online Voter Registration appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Arguably the next killer app for tech would be online voting. That’s a state and local issue, but I wondered whether you think that it’s something that should be a priority for technologists?

The President’s response:

Absolutely. So we’ve been talking about the U.S. digital team, and a lot of this is: How do we deliver services better to customers?

Along with his support for online voting, the President addressed the need for both transparency and easy access to information regarding things such as how our tax money is being spent. He also hit the nail on the head, as far as encouraging citizen engagement with technology, something Follow My Vote is extremely passionate about. The President said:

What we should also be thinking about is, How can technology enhance the experience of democracy? How can we make it easier to vote? How can we make it easier for like-minded citizens to petition their government in a way that is meaningful?

YES! YES! YES! These are absolutely the type questions we need to be asking right now in our country, and the President of the United States just gave his validation.

Obama also shared some of the reasons he came out in support for online voting, and it has to do with his daughters.

I look at my daughters, who are, as every teenage kid is today, completely fluent in technology and social media. They might not go to a town hall meeting physically, the way their grandmother might have around some issue, and sit through a two-hour debate. Because they’re just used to things moving faster. But we can imagine creating a corollary process for them that is consistent with how they interact generally. We can think of apps that promote engagement and the power of people.

Our youth are extremely active online and Obama gets it. They communicate, interact, shop, and even go to college online. Shouldn’t we have options in the voting process to encourage their engagement? We believe online voting is the solution to increasing voter turnout and restoring faith in the democratic process.

President Obama just voiced his support for online voting. Will you?

Check out the full interview on Fast Company here.

About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post Did President Obama Just Announce His Support For Online Voting? appeared first on Follow My Vote.

Summary:

Obama’s executive order has established the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) which is a

whole-of-government effort designed to create a cohesive, multi-agency strategic vision and Federal investment strategy, executed in collaboration with industry and academia, to maximize the benefits of HPC for the United States.

The objectives of this order are to build an exascale computing system (super computer) that is capable of delivering 100 times the performance of current 10 petaflop systems. This means the system will run at 1 exaflop or 1 quintillion calculations per second. This is about 30 times faster than most super computers used today. the Tianhe-2 can perform 33,860 trillion calculation a second which is about double what Titan, the leading US super computer can do. The order also aims to bring coherence to the two computing categories of modeling and simulation with analytic computing. A 15 year path is to be set for the future of high performance computing with regards to semiconductor technology.

The order will take an all encompassing approach for use in areas such as networking technology, workflow, downward scaling, foundational algorithms and software, accessibility, and workforce development. All of this research and development will be shared with the private and academic sectors to promote technology advances and collaboration.

Here are the government agencies that will be involved with the endeavor.

Lead Agencies: The Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Foundational Research and Development Agencies:  The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Deployment Agencies: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The Real Story Of Obama’s Executive Order

Obama’s executive order can be analyzed in several ways. One way to look at it is that the US feels it must take back the title of world’s fastest super computer. China’s Tianhe-2 is the current leader. However, the cost and energy of creating and running the system are extremely high. The Tianhe-2 ran a price tag of  $2.4 billion.

We should also take a look at the calculation times and practicality of the system. This new order will surely produce a super computer that outperforms the Tianhe-2. But the Tianhe-2 is actually 142,024 times slower than the Bitcoin network. And other cryptocurrency systems can be quite faster. The BitShares system is capable of producing up to 100,000 transactions per second. In comparison to Visa’s typical transaction time of  2,000 transactions per second, it is quite impressive. Keep in mind that theses systems run on a vast network of computers all over the world and that one cryptocurrency transaction is not equal to one super computer calculation. A cryptocurrency transaction can be very simple, where as a super computer transaction can be very involved.

As far as practicality, complaints have been made about the current leading super computer. In China:

Dr Cao Jun, a team leader at Daya Bay, said they had no interest in Tianhe-2 for a number of reasons: a huge amount of data could choke the computational monster; data flow from one calculating unit to another could be slow; and a slower machine at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of High Energy Physics could get the same job done more quickly and cheaply.

“Tianhe-2 cannot give us what we need,” he said. “It is not quite suitable for high energy physics. I am not sure what it can do.”

Computers like these need special code that can take months if not years to create. Otherwise the machine is not efficient.

A likely use for this super computer, is by agencies like the NSA. The NSA is currently under the DOD which is a leading agency on this order. We might see this computer end up at a place like the NSA’s Utah data center. This data center is where the NSA processes and stores all types of info and records on American citizens and people around the world.

All in all this super computer is going to costs a great amount of money. And at the rate of technology depreciation (no one wants last years iPhone) we might see little value out of this computer in 5 years. We could also see great innovation come from Obama’s executive order. These innovations will be shared with both the private and academic sectors which would be a win for everyone.

It would also be ironic for the US to have the greatest super computer ever built but still be so apprehensive about online voting. Just a thought.

What are your thoughts? Does the US need the bragging rights of fastest super computer? And should the NSA get their hands on it? Many consider the NSA to be invasive while others say their actions are justified. Let us know in the comment section below.

About the author: Will Long is the Marketing Manager of Follow My Vote.

The post The Real Story Of Obama’s Executive Order To Create The Worlds Fastest Super Computer. appeared first on Follow My Vote.

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