The US has an issue that its voting system is pretty much open to abuse, if not from international hackers who want to appoint the most indecisive or incompetent candidate, than from corporations keen to keep their tame politician in power.

Blockchain has been touted as a way of setting up a secure system which cannot be hacked. However in its 156-page report, with the catchy title "Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy", National Academies Press concluded that blockchains are not safe for the US election system.

"While the notion of using a blockchain as an immutable ballot box may seem promising, blockchain technology does little to solve the fundamental security issues of elections, and indeed, blockchains introduce additional security vulnerabilities", the report states.

"If malware on a voter's device alters a vote before it ever reaches a blockchain, the immutability of the blockchain fails to provide the desired integrity, and the voter may never know of the alteration."

The report adds: "Blockchains do not provide the anonymity often ascribed to them. Voters need to be authorised as eligible to vote and as not having cast more than one ballot in the election. Blockchains do not offer means for providing the necessary authorisation.”

If a Blockchain is used, then cast ballots must be encrypted or otherwise anonymised to prevent coercion and vote-selling."

The report calls for conducting all federal, state and local elections on paper ballots by 2020. Its other top recommendation would require nationwide use of a specific form of routine postelection audit to ensure votes have been accurately counted.

New York University's Brennan Centre has estimated that replacing aging voting machines over the next few years could cost well over $1 billion.

The 156-page report moans about a rickety system compromised by insecure voting equipment and software whose vulnerabilities were exposed more than a decade ago and which are too often managed by officials with little training in cybersecurity.