And that’s what Sequent Tech, a startup focused on making secure online voting more accessible, accomplished in the Philippine national elections this year. The company enabled more than 1.23 million registered voters to vote remotely from their own devices. With this accomplishment, the Philippines became the first country ever to put remote digital voting into practice at this scale.
Despite its notable security features, including blocking over 75,000 cyberattack attempts, the platform was able to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted voting experience. This accomplishment is a real testament to the power of Sequent’s platform. It uses state-of-the-art cryptographic protocols and open-source software to ensure the integrity of our elections.
Sequent’s robust platform offers amazing security features. It further allows for a real-time public audit that verifies the integrity of the votes in less than five minutes. We accomplished this process at a small percentage of the costs of paper recounts. It provides a cost-effective way to ensure the integrity of elections.
Sequent used zero-knowledge proofs to encrypt, cast, and mathematically verify each vote, providing total system transparency without compromising voter privacy. The system received the best security certifications set by U.S., Canadian, and European Union election officials. So far, its historic US success—which includes widespread bipartisan support—has proven its reliability on a truly global scale.
Aimee P. Ferolino, head of the Commission on Election (COMELEC), indicated how important this innovation is for the Filipino diaspora. She’s especially excited about the potential benefit for Americans living overseas. She stated, “With over 10 million Filipinos living abroad, one of our key goals in this election was to enable participation without the burden of long-distance travel.” This initiative allowed voters from 77 different countries to participate in the election process without needing to travel to embassies or consulates.
Sequent’s work goes beyond the Philippines, securing over 3.6 million voters in over 210 election deployments globally. The firm is committed to increasing participatory democracy. It engages in dynamic partnerships with states, cities, institutions of higher education, parties, organized labor, and professional organizations across the country.
It was a pretty big election Shai Bargil, CEO and Co-Founder of Sequent, said this particular election was important to rewind. He remarked, “This election showed that secure, verifiable, and convenient online voting at a national scale is not only possible—it’s here.” As we would have faith in a digital platform to provide our banking and other public services, so our electoral systems must now adapt,” he added. Sequent was designed for this moment — to create a more inclusive, transparent and trusted democracy.”
