West Virginia officials say a mobile voting app based on blockchain technology successfully allowed absentee military members and their families living overseas to participate in this year's mid-term elections using only their smartphones.

The West Virginia Secretary of State's office estimated that 144 West Virginia absentee voters living in 30 different countries cast ballots using an application on approved mobile devices that records the ballots anonymously using blockchain.

[ Further reading: What is blockchain? The most disruptive tech in decades ]

The state used the app, which was developed by Boston start-up Voatz, to allow absentee voting by military members deployed overseas. The absentee voters would otherwise have had to submit paper absentee ballots via mail or vote over a land line telephone.

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