Citizen Suburban Times Weekly 10-30-2019

Citizen Week of Oct. 30, 2019

| Vol. 3 | No. 12 | www.thechicagocitizen.com

SUBURBAN TIMES WEEKLY

The Village of Matteson’s Board of Trustees recently voted unanimously to approve the Choctaw Nation’s plans to develop a casino in the community. Photo Credit: Provided by the Village of Matteson

SOUTH SUBURBAN VILLAGE VOTES TO APPROVE CASINO DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The Village of Matteson’s Board of Trustees and Village President, Sheila Chalmers-Currin, recently voted to unanimously approve the Choctaw Nation’s plan to develop a casino in the Village. The development plan includes a casino, a hotel, a convention space, and several dining options. SEE PAGE 2

POLITISCOPE

Blockchain voting is vulnerable to hackers, software glitches and bad ID photos – among other problems PAGE 2

NEWS

NEWS

Forever stamp honors Esteemed Journalist Gwen Ifill PAGE 3

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Ally Donates $1 Million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture PAGE 4

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COMMUNITY

South Suburban Village Votes To Approve Casino Development Plan Continued from page 1

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Village of Matteson’s Board of Trustees and Village President, Sheila Chalmers-Currin, recently voted to unanimously approve the Choctaw Nation’s plan to develop a casino in the Village. The development plan includes a casino, a hotel, a convention space, and several dining options.

“I believe this project will be an asset not just to Matteson, but to the entire Southland Region,” said Chalmers-Currin. “After interviewing multiple casino operators, we felt the team led by the Choctaw Nation provided the best combination of experience, vision, community engagement, and a financially feasible plan.”

The Village of Matteson’s partner on the ca-

sino development plan is the Choctaw Nation, which is the third-largest Indian Nation in the United States. Choctaw Nation’s Division of Commerce manages an array of businesses including 22 gaming sites, three resorts, six hotels, an RV park, and 12 ranches and farms encompassing 65,000 acres, according to information provided by the Choctaw Nation.

“We’re honored with the chance to match our team’s experience with the community of Matteson and to create jobs and opportunity across the south suburbs,” said Janie Dillard, senior executive director of commerce for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. “Matteson is ideally located for a successful casino project.”

In agreement with Dillard, Chalmers-Currin has stated on several occasions that she believes Matteson is the “absolute best

location in southern Cook County” due to it’s proximity to neighboring Will County and its access to Interstates 57 and 80.

If approved by the state, the development is planned for the corner of Lincoln Highway and Harlem Avenue in the Village of Matteson. The project will feature 2,000 gaming positions, a high-end restaurant, a food hall, a 200-room hotel, and a 36,000 square foot convention space that can be used for concerts, banquets, or community events, according to information provided by the Village of Matteson.

Chalmers-Currin said that not only will the Matteson casino be a destination for residents and travelers, but the project will also be integrated with the South Suburban community and utilize local minority business enterprises for partnerships. Additionally, the develop-

ment will include space dedicated to preserving and sharing the multi-cultural history of the area, according to information provided by the Village of Matteson.

Before the project can move forward, it will require approval from the State of Illinois which just recently passed legislation to allow for the construction of a casino in the Greater Southland Region.

Currently, there are six south suburban casino development plans hoping to be approved by the state. Casino development plans have been submitted by Country Club Hills, Lynwood, Calumet City, Crestwood, and a joint proposal that has been submitted

by Homewood and East Hazel Crest.

For more information on the Choctaw Nation, visit www.choctawnation.com.

POLITISCOPE

Blockchain voting is vulnerable to hackers, software glitches and bad ID photos – among other problems

BY NIR KSHETRI

A developing technology called “blockchain” has gotten attention from election officials, startups and even Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang as a potential way to boost voter turnout and public trust in election results.

I study blockchain technology and its potential use in fighting fraud, strengthening cybersecurity and securing voting.

I see promising signs that blockchain-based voting could make it more convenient for people to vote, thereby boosting voter turnout. And blockchain systems can be effective at strengthening the security of devices, networks and critical systems like electricity grids, as well as protecting personal privacy.

The few small-scale tests run so far have identified problems and vulnerabilities in the digital systems and government administrative procedures that must be resolved before blockchain-based voting can be considered safe and trustworthy. Therefore, I don’t see clear evidence that it can prevent, or even detect, election fraud.

How it works There are a few steps in a blockchain-based voting system, which uses technology to mirror the process of in-person voting.

First, the system needs to verify

Nir Kshetri

a voter’s identity – often by having the user upload a photo of a government-issued ID and then a photo or video self-portrait. The system confirms the ID’s validity, and facial recognition software makes sure the person in the self-portrait is the person on the ID. Then the user is authenticated as eligible to cast a vote.

Only at that point does blockchain technology actually enter the process.

The system gives each authenticated voter a digital token that represents the person’s vote and a list of the digital addresses to which he or she can send that token. Each address indicates a vote for a particular candidate or an answer to a ballot question.

The tokens don’t indicate who cast

them, so votes remain anonymous.

When a voter sends a token, a record of that act is stored simultaneously on several different computers, making it much harder for hackers to alter the vote records. After casting the ballot by sending the token, the user receives a unique code that they can use to look at the anonymized online vote tally to confirm their vote was counted as they intended.

to continue and expand the trial in the 2020 presidential election.

Denver, Colorado, had 119 voters who were overseas use a Voatz system to cast their ballots in municipal primary elections in May. In the city’s June runoff election, 112 voters did so online through a blockchain system.

In August, 24 voters cast their ballots from overseas using a Voatz app in a Utah County, Utah, election.

Small-scale trials, so far Early results show that blockchain systems may increase voter turnout, though it’s not yet clear why. Many of the tests have been for informal ballots, like student government groups and community projects.

However, several election officials in the U.S. have held small-scale trials of blockchain voting, allowing members of the military who are stationed overseas to vote electronically, rather than by mail.

In the November 2018 congressional elections, West Virginia allowed 144 voters living overseas to cast ballots from 31 different countries using an app developed by a private company called Voatz, which is involved in many of these trials.

Another 200 voters overseas expressed interest in using the system, but their home counties in West Virginia weren’t set up to do so. Based on the results, West Virginia says it plans

A big test in Moscow The most recent – and largest – use of a blockchain-based voting system was in the city council election in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 8. Because of concerns that the system was not set up securely, only three of the city’s 20 electoral precincts allowed voters to use a blockchain-based mobile voting app to cast their ballot from anywhere with an internet connection.

Again, the evidence showed a boost in voter turnout: The city’s overall turnout rate was around 17% of registered voters. That includes a 90% turnout among the voters who had registered to use the system.

However, technological complications barred some people from voting, which led at least one losing candidate to object that he would have won if everything had worked properly.

That’s the sort of problem that is most worrying for people who hope using mathematical principles and comput-

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erized encryption will help the public have trust in election outcomes.

Key challenges unsolved There are several obstacles in the way of blockchain ever becoming useful for large-scale, legally binding voting.

One is that most people have little understanding of how blockchain systems work. Another, equally vital, is that even experts don’t have a way to identify every possible irregularity in online voting. Voting on paper, by contrast, is well studied and easily verified and audited.

One crucial aspect of a blockchain voting system is the method by which the computer system verifies voters’ identities. When a verified voter establishes an account on the system, that process creates a digital key that identifies them securely when casting a ballot. A more complex key is harder to hack, but also takes more computing resources to verify. It will be important to find a way to protect the integrity of the voting process, without exhausting government budgets buying advanced computing power. The computational power required may make blockchain systems inefficient for voting on a nationwide scale – or even statewide, in populous states like California and Texas.

The Moscow election system, for Continued on page 4

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NEWS

Forever stamp honors Esteemed Journalist Gwen Ifill With 2020 rapidly approaching, the U.S. Postal Service recently revealed several of the new Forever stamps and others to be issued next year.

Since 1847, the Postal Service stamp program has celebrated the people, events and cultural milestones unique to the history of the United States.

“These miniature works of art offer something for everyone interested in American history and culture,” said U.S. Postal Service Stamp Services Acting Executive Director William Gicker. “From notable figures such as golf legend Arnold Palmer and esteemed journalist Gwen Ifill to the cultural phenomenon of hip hop to a celebration of the great outdoors, this program is wide-ranging and adds to the history of our great nation as recorded through the U.S. stamp program.”

The 43rd stamp in the Black Heritage series honors Gwen Ifill (1955–2016), one of America’s most esteemed journalists. The stamp features a photo of Ifill taken in 2008 by photographer Robert Severi. Among the first African Americans to hold prominent positions in both broadcast and print journalism, Ifill was a trailblazer in the B:10”profession. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp.

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“The U.S. Postal Service’s 2020 stamp program has something for everyone, including Forever stamps honoring legendary golfer Arnold Palmer and esteemed journalist Gwen Ifill.”

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NEWS

Ally Donates $1 Million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture Darrell Garth President / Publisher Janice Garth Sales Manager/ General Manager CST Weekly, published weekly on Wednesdays and distributed in the Township of Bloom, (publishing 52 issues annually).

Written permission is required to reproduce contents in whole or part from the General manager or the publisher. CST Weekly does not assume the responsibility for nor are we able to return unsolicited marterials. Deadline for advertising is every Monday at noon.

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Ally Financial recently announced a $1 million donation to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture with a check presentation by Ally Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey J. Brown to Interim Director of the museum, Spencer Crew.

The museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is the nation’s largest museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history and culture, and its impact on the world today.

This donation supports Ally’s commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion through education, understanding and action.

“Championing diversity and inclusion is a cornerstone of our culture at Ally and at the foundation of

Ally Financial recently announced a $1 million donation to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

what it means to do it right,” said Brown. “An important part of this includes education and an understanding of the rich fabric of diversity.

The National Museum of

African American History and Culture tells the story of America through the lens of black history and culture, and we are proud to be able to help support them in that

mission.”

Brown was joined for the check presentation by 24 students from historically black colleges and universities who were invited by

Ally to tour the museum.

Prior to the museum tour, the students participated in a learning session on the topic of design thinking that was led by Ally.

POLITISCOPE Blockchain voting is vulnerable to hackers, software glitches and bad ID photos – among other problems Continued from page 2

David Rooney

Outside the blockchain itself Other problems with digital voting systems are separate from the underlying technologies. In some cases, government-issued IDs used to verify voters’ identities are many years old.

Even when dealing with current images, facial recognition systems, including the one used by Voatz, have high error rates, especially for nonwhite voters. In addition, hackers may try to trick the system.

The phone or computer a voter uses to cast a ballot may not be secure, either – and it’s not safe to assume that the computer networks they communicate over, and the servers the data is stored on, are safe from manipulation or even random errors.

whether voters’ choices are accurately recorded, nor whether these apps truthfully deliver their ballots’ encrypted copy to be counted by election officials.

Voatz has claimed that its system has been audited by third parties, but has made few details of that process or its findings available to the public.

West Virginia officials who hired Voatz have also refused to reveal information about how its security was evaluated.

The company has said it would not release that information because it had a nondisclosure agreement with the auditors, and for fear its proprietary system design might be discovered by competitors.

It’s possible that blockchain-based voting could boost voter participation rates, but there’s no evidence yet that it is better at preventing election fraud. With plenty of potential trouble spots outside the system itself, and little public transparency within it, I have to conclude that blockchain voting is not yet safe or ready for service.

Trust, but verify Proprietary voting apps like Voatz offer the public no way to know

Nir Kshetri is a Professor of Management at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro.

instance, initially assigned keys that were too easily hacked. That opened the possibility of voter impersonation, which is bad enough. But that weakness also violated the principle of a secret ballot by letting outsiders know how each person voted.

K. Austin Collins

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NEWS

Third Consecutive Year, Condé Nast Traveler Names Chicago As Best Large City To Visit Condé Nast Traveler www.cntraveler. com, recently announced that its readers have voted Chicago as the best large city in the U.S. “This wonderful recognition not only reflects the beauty and excitement of our great city, but also our tourism industry’s dedicated efforts to attract people from across the country and around the globe,” said Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. “Chicago will always roll out the welcome mat for visitors, and continue showcasing the sights and sounds of our world-class institutions and cultural life throughout our dynamic neighborhoods and communities, as well as in our magnificent downtown.”

According to a press release, Condé Nast Traveler’s 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition of excellence in the travel industry. This year, more than 600,000 Condé Nast Traveler readers across the globe submitted a recording-breaking number of responses rating their travel experiences to

provide a full snapshot of where and how we travel today. The “Best Large City” category was first added in 2015 with New York nabbing top spot in 2015 and 2016. Chicago was first voted “Best Large City” in 2017, repeating the selection in 2018 and has now won for a third year in a row.

“Chicago being named best large city to visit is a true accolade for all of us in Chicago’s hospitality and meetings industry,” said Glenn Eden, chair of Choose Chicago’s Board of Directors. “This recognition validates the momentum that we have been able to build upon these past few years but further underscores the City’s impact on the nation and world as a destination that everyone should experience.”

The award comes as the city continues to be recognized for its world-renowned culinary scene, including a growing number of Michelin-starred and James Beard award-winning restaurants, the buzz created by the expanded Riverwalk, top rankings of numerous Chicago museums, attractions

and tours, a thriving entertainment scene, including the ongoing celebration of the Year of Chicago Theater and the city’s international acclaim for architecture and music.

Adding to this momentum, Chicago has opened no fewer than 26 additional hotels in the past four years, including many that are located in emerging neighborhoods, further adding to the breadth and impact of the visitor industry, according to a press release.

“It’s always significant when a leading travel publication and its savvy and knowledgeable readers vote you the number one large city destination in the nation,” said David Whitaker, president and chief executive officer of Choose Chicago. “But to be selected now for a third year in a row speaks volumes about the kind of city and destination that Chicago is becoming and the incredible potential that we have to further build on our emerging reputation. It’s also a tribute to the overall effort and investments of so many in our community who are

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working hard every day to invite, serve and welcome the world to our home.”

The recognition from Condé Nast readers coincides with a strategic decision three years ago to expand the focus to attract more leisure visitors to Chicago from major feeder markets throughout the United States as well as a concerted effort to garner more overnight visitors. According to hotel occupancy reports generated by Smith Travel Research, leisure room demand (rooms consumed) has grown 14% in the past three years, with the majority of this growth generated from visitors outside of Chicago’s traditional market of nine neighboring states. This growth trend has continued in 2019 as leisure room demand (rooms consumed) is up 4.7% for the first eight months of the year.

Choose Chicago’s recently redesigned website, www.ChooseChicago.com, has generated more than 6.3 million site visits in the first 8 months of 2019 representing a year- over-year increase of 10.7%, a press release further stated.

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