Medici Ventures Issues Statement in Support of Voatz, Creator of First and Only Blockchain-Based Mobile Voting App
February 13 2020 - 9:31AM
Medici Ventures, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc.
(NASDAQ:OSTK), has released the following statement from Jonathan
Johnson, CEO of Overstock and president of Medici Ventures, in the
wake of today’s story in the New York Times around mobile voting:
"I, like much of the nation, closely watched the conversation
around the use of technology in the electoral process. By now, a
staggering number of articles have been written about the use of
mobile technology in Iowa. It’s an important conversation. But I
think there’s a dangerous precedent getting set here, one founded
on misinformation and fear. We have to remember that America is a
nation of pioneers and innovators. We pride ourselves on being
technological leaders. We need to care about technology in voting
because the current state of voting is unacceptable. It is
effectively disenfranchising overseas military service men and
women, the elderly, and those with disabilities – all who cannot
get to poll sites. We believe in the responsible integration of
technology. But the conversation around technology in elections has
swung to an extreme: one that is anti-technology and anti-learning.
It says this: there might be a risk, therefore we should not use
any technology in elections at all.
I firmly believe this undermines American progress. This false
premise is shutting down our pursuit of piloting, testing and
developing technologies that not only mitigate risks, but makes
voting accessible for populations who cannot physically get to the
polls.
We are a country of great innovators. If we allow fear to choke
the safe evolution of outdated election methods – and effectively
shut out key groups from the voting process – it would be a great
shame to our nation indeed. Voatz, a keiretsu company of Medici
Ventures, has been in the mobile voting industry for nearly five
years. As the New York Times rightly points out, Voatz is the first
and only voting app available for consideration to election
officials exploring additional technology for better voting access.
Voatz has run more than 50 safe and secure elections, including 9
well-designed governmental election pilots across five states with
a focus on voters living overseas, deployed military personnel,
their families and voters with disabilities. We believe in Voatz
and its mission.
We believe that the Voatz technology is responsible and safe; it
not only prevents voting fraud, but it also protects the privacy of
each voter. The Voatz app even generates a paper ballot that can be
audited to guarantee the fidelity of the vote. This is, we believe,
the right path forward to safe innovation in election technology.
We should not let ourselves derail the future of voting."
See the official statement from Voatz on today’s New York Times
article on mobile voting.
About OverstockOverstock.com, Inc Common
Shares (NASDAQ:OSTK) / Digital Voting Series A-1 Preferred Stock
(Medici Ventures’ tZERO platform:OSTKO) / Series B Preferred
(OTCQX:OSTBP) is an online retailer and technology company
based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Its leading e-commerce website
sells a broad range of new home products at low prices, including
furniture, décor, rugs, bedding, home improvement, and more. The
online shopping site, which is visited by nearly 40 million
customers a month, also features a marketplace providing customers
access to millions of products from third-party sellers. Overstock
was the first major retailer to accept cryptocurrency in 2014, and
in the same year founded Medici Ventures, its wholly owned
subsidiary dedicated to the development and acceleration of
blockchain technologies to democratize capital, eliminate
middlemen, and re-humanize commerce. Overstock regularly posts
information about the Company and other related matters on
the Newsroom and Investor Relations pages on
its website, Overstock.com.
O, Overstock.com, O.com, Club O, Main Street
Revolution, and Worldstock are registered
trademarks of Overstock.com, Inc. Other service
marks, trademarks and trade names which may be referred to
herein are the property of their respective owners.
About Medici Ventures Launched in 2014, Medici
Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc.
(NASDAQ:OSTK) created to leverage blockchain technology to solve
real-world problems with transparent, efficient, and secure
solutions. Medici Ventures has a global keiretsu of ground-breaking
blockchain-focused companies focused on building the foundation of
a technology stack for civilization. Medici Ventures’ companies are
introducing blockchain technology to industries including identity,
land governance, money and banking, capital markets, supply chain,
and voting. The company’s majority-owned financial technology
company, tZERO, executed the world’s first blockchain-based stock
offering in December 2016.
About Voatz
Voatz is an award-winning mobile elections platform that
leverages cutting-edge technology (including biometrics and a
blockchain-based infrastructure) to increase access and security in
elections. Since 2016 Voatz has run more than 50 elections with
cities, universities, towns, nonprofits, and both major state
political parties for convention voting. In 2018 Voatz partnered
with West Virginia to empower deployed military and overseas
citizens to vote, marking the first mobile votes in U.S. history.
In 2019 Voatz expanded its pilots to Denver, Utah, Oregon and
Washington, all of which held citizen’s public-facing audits,
hosted by the National Cybersecurity Center. All pilots increased
turnout and in the case of Denver, 100% of voters responding to a
post-election survey said they preferred this method of voting to
any other. Learn more here.
SOURCE: Overstock.com, Inc.
Media Contact:pr@overstock.com
Investor Contact:ir@overstock.com
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