Have you ever wondered how the votes in a presidential election are counted? Imagine an application that securely records each vote, ensuring that double-voting is impossible. In this guide, we will walk through the steps to build a simple yet effective e-voting application leveraging the powerful Hyperledger Fabric and IBM Blockchain Platform.
Overview: What You’ll Build
This tutorial will help you create a web application where voters can register with their driver’s license, receive a unique voter ID, and cast their votes. Every vote is recorded and tallied on the blockchain, providing transparency and security in the voting process.
Prerequisites
- IBM Cloud account
- Node v8.x or greater and npm v5.x or greater
Steps to Create Your E-Voting Application
Step 1: Clone the Repository
Start by cloning the e-voting application repository:
git clone https://github.com/IBMevoteStep 2: Create IBM Cloud Services
Create the necessary services on IBM Cloud:
- Create the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service.
- Create the IBM Blockchain Platform.
Step 3: Build a Network
This involves setting up your “Voter Organization,” registering identities, and creating peers and consensus mechanisms. Follow the provided instructions in the IBM Blockchain Platform documentation for detailed steps.
Step 4: Deploy the Smart Contract
Once the network is established, you’ll need to install and instantiate the voterContract. This contract handles the logic of voting and ensuring a secure process.
Step 5: Connect Application to the Network
Create the necessary application administration and update the connection profile to link your application with the blockchain network.
Step 6: Run the Application
Finally, you will enroll an admin, start the server, and launch the web client:
cd web-appserver
npm install
node enrollAdmin.js
npm startNext Steps: Interact with the App
Once you have the application running at http://localhost:8080, you can begin to register as a voter, cast votes, and view poll standings with ease!
Understanding the Code: An Analogy
Think of your blockchain network as a library. When a book (a vote) is returned, it is logged in a ledger. Each library member (voter) has a unique library card (voter ID). Only members with valid cards can borrow books, ensuring there are no double borrowings. The ledger maintains a perfect record of which books are checked out and their current status to ensure smooth operations.
Troubleshooting
- If you encounter a self-signed certificate error, add
httpOptions: verify: falseto the certificateAuthorities section of your connection profile. - If the application seems unresponsive when registering a voter, please ensure the required fields are filled correctly and try again.
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Conclusion
By following this guide, you will create a blockchain-backed e-voting application, ensuring secure, tamper-proof voting. At fxis.ai, we believe that such advancements are crucial for the future of AI, as they enable more comprehensive and effective solutions. Our team is continually exploring new methodologies to push the envelope in artificial intelligence, ensuring that our clients benefit from the latest technological innovations.