The time leading up to an election is filled with months and months of strategic campaigning, with candidates working tirelessly to win over voters. This period is marked by policy discussions, media appearances, and debates, all designed to educate and motivate citizens to participate at the polls.
Despite the various tactics used to encourage voter turnout, there is still always a portion of the population that doesn’t participate. This could be for several reasons, such as a lack of trust in the political system, insufficient information about the candidates, or mere logistical obstacles like limited access to polling stations. During the 2024 U.S. Presidential election, approximately 245 million Americans were eligible to vote; however, nearly 90 million did not make it to the polls.
Authorities also face hurdles when handling the complicated operations associated with voting abroad, seeking solutions that provide more accessible voting options. Online voting offers a convenient solution, but current offerings cannot guarantee the security measures needed to pull off digital voting in large-scale elections.
Transitioning From Traditional Voting to Online Systems
One tech company is working to expand accessibility without compromising security. Sequent Tech, a startup specialising in secure, end-to-end verifiable online voting solutions, helps break down long-standing barriers to remote voting, making democratic processes more accessible.
During the Philippines’ most recent national elections, the country became one of the first to implement remote voting, allowing 1.23 million registered voters to cast their votes abroad. Commissioned by the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC), these elections represented one of the largest voting deployments in the world, with ballots cast from 77 different countries.
Sequent Tech’s platform enabled overseas citizens to vote securely from the comfort of their homes, using their personal devices, eliminating the need to travel long distances to embassies or consulates.
Cybersecurity Measures That Protect Every Vote
Following a biometric authentication process to validate the voter’s identity, each vote was encrypted, cast, and mathematically verified using zero-knowledge proofs to ensure complete transparency. As a result of these safety precautions, Sequent’s platform successfully blocked more than 75,000 attempted cyberattacks.
Shai Bargil, CEO and Co-Founder of Sequent, shares: “This [Philippine] election showed that secure, verifiable, and convenient online voting at a national scale is not only possible—it’s here. Just as we trust digital platforms for banking and public services, electoral systems must now evolve. Sequent was built for this moment—to make democracy more accessible, transparent, and trustworthy.”
Aimee P. Ferolino, the Commission in Charge for COMELEC, shared her insights on the online voting system: “For the first time, overseas voters could cast their ballots from their phones or computers, overcoming historic barriers to turnout. This is a milestone in making every Filipino voice count—no matter where they live.”
Rewriting the Global Standard for Online, User-Friendly Voting
Sequent removes common barriers to online voting by offering a cryptographically secure and independent, auditable voting solution, meeting election security standards set by the United States, Canada, and the European Union. To date, Sequent has supported more than 3.6 million voters across governments, municipalities, universities, party primaries, labour unions, and professional associations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia.
The success of the Philippines’ national election serves as a blueprint for other countries seeking alternative voting methods beyond in-person or mail-in options. With more people living outside their birth countries, governments should ensure their citizens have a say in election outcomes, no matter where they are, and online voting provides an effective way to participate.
