export_ofoct.com (2)

[00:00.97] Ballot pops up on my screen, and the ballot itself is simple and easy to use, and I go through it, I take my time, no rush.

[00:09.47] Whenever I'm ready, I hit submit.

[00:11.59] And when I hit submit, three things happen.

[00:13.98] First, my ballot is encrypted.

[00:16.64] Second, it's anonymized.

[00:19.30] Third, I get a tracking code, like if it were a FedEx package, so I can track the progress of my ballot all the way through the process.

[00:27.80] Then it goes back to the New York City Board of Elections, and they air-gap it, which means they take it offline.

[00:33.91] And once my ballot is no longer connected to the internet, then they decrypt it, a paper copy is printed out that gets mixed in with all of the other ballots.

[00:44.26] I know where my ballot stands, because I can see from the tracking code that it was received, tabulated, printed and so on.

[00:52.23] And the underlying code itself is open source, which means that anyone can audit it.

[00:57.01] Anyone can verify it.

[00:58.87] It's totally transparent.

[01:01.27] To me, that's a lot more secure than the way we vote right now.

[01:06.31] And we've already built it.

[01:07.91] We've already paid for it, and we're giving it away to anyone who wants to use it for free.

[01:20.66] And with a little more work, I think we could do even more.

[01:23.31] We could register people to vote on the app.

[01:25.70] We could give voters nonpartisan information about candidates or ballot measures so you actually know what you're voting on.

[01:33.94] And versions of this already do exist.

[01:36.06] Mobile voting in a way, exists in Estonia.

[01:38.45] They use it in party elections in the UK.

[01:41.37] Some municipalities here in Canada use it.

[01:44.30] But not in the US, and not in most democracies.

[01:48.81] And that's where the hard part really kicks in: getting politicians to let us use our phones to vote in elections, because in my experience, people in power don't like making it easier for other people to gain power.

[02:04.48] And that's -- Yeah, exactly.

[02:09.00] And that's why I'm here.

[02:10.06] Because they're not just going to do it if I ask nicely.

[02:14.05] They're not just going to do it if I snarl at libertarians on X or at the liberals on Bluesky.

[02:19.09] They're only going to do it if you make it happen.

[02:22.01] If we all make it happen.

[02:23.87] And we can.

[02:25.73] Every major right that has ever been won, anywhere: the right to vote, the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, same-sex marriage, anything, has only happened because enough people stood up loud enough and long enough and demanded their rights, and eventually the status quo had to give in.

[02:47.25] And we can do that here, too.

[02:49.37] We can make voting easier and a lot more secure.

[02:53.89] We can bring regular people back into the process.

[02:57.08] We can take power away from the extremes.

[02:59.73] We can end the dysfunction and polarization that plagues our society today.

[03:05.58] We can give our politicians the cover and the courage they need to work together and to finally, finally get things done.

[03:16.73] We can do all of this in the next ten years.

[03:19.65] We can do it with mobile voting.