EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Sanford Morganstein
Organization : | N/A
Post Date : | 9/27/2005
Glossary Comments
Glossary Term : | Directly Verifiable
Definition : |
Comment : | Voting system that allows the voter to verify at least one representation of his or her ballot with his/her own senses, not using any software or hardware intermediary. Examples of a directly verifiable voting system include DRE with a voter verified paper trail or marksense system. This is in contrast with an indirectly verifiable voting system. The problem with this definition is that the definition itself makes a statement that may not be true. A marksense system can be viewed by the voter, but that does not mean that the marksense ballot will be tabulated the way the voter intends. For example, the marksense ballot may have erasures, creases, folds or paper imperfections that are not sensed by the voter but which may give an unintended result. The term Verifiable should have the notion of how the ballot will be treated by the tabulation process.