Hala Ayala, a newly elected chair of the Virginia House of Delegates, is promoting her state government to examine how blockchain could be of aid for future local elections and commerce.

On January 8, Delegate Ayala added two bills to the House of Delegates. The first bill proposed Virginia’s Department of Elections to examine how blockchain can be utilized as a method of defending the elections, and the second bill named the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) to study blockchain’s contemporary and future role in the Old Dominion’s economy.

Ayala’s two bills include her political drive to use, or at least take into account, the blockchain technology in Virginia.

Her aim to implement the blockchain technology shouldn’t appear as a shock as she was an information security expert with the U.S. Coast Guard for almost two decades before receiving the cybersecurity role at the Transportation Security Administration in 2017.

“Right now, blockchain is a thriving technology,” stated Ayala, who was lately appointed to be the first-ever chair of Technology and Innovation Subcommittee.

Blockchain is also a compelling method to get ahead of future attacks. While the bill asks the Virginia Department of Elections to research prevailing blockchain voting mechanisms, lead a cost-benefit study and then give a decision “whether and how to implement blockchain” in elections, it also allows a way to implement the technology.

“We have to take blockchain very seriously and understand it has the mechanics and mechanisms that could potentially provide us with more secure election protection,” Ayala stated.

The second bill would also promote blockchain toward more comprehensive implementation in Virginia, including two years of mandated analysis on its administration and role in intrastate trading.

While Delegate Ayala considers the bills will illuminate how the state government can receive the benefits from the blockchain technology, she has not yet authorized to putting it into action.

“We need to do our homework first to see how we can apply these technologies to their businesses as well as our elections,” she added.

Ayala’s economics bill seeks to promote “a statewide, comprehensive, and coordinated strategy relating to blockchain technology,” the text reads.