EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Linda Lamone
Organization : | National Association of State Election Directors
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
Section Comments
Section : | 6.8
Page no. : |
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Comment : | We understand that VVPAT standards are necessary in light of several states' mandates for them. However, all states are required to employ accessible voting systems by January 1, 2006, and the only federally certified voting systems that are considered accessible are DREs. Although a handful of states have mandated VVPATs, most states have not mandated VVPATs and are waiting on guidance from NIST and TGDC for comprehensive standards for DRE use. For many, the VVPAT represents a cumbersome, expensive, and partial answer to questions about DRE security and voter verification. In addition to being able to verify that their vote was cast properly, voters need confidence that their vote will be recorded correctly BEFORE they cast their ballot. Before any VVPAT standards are released, we strongly encourage you to clearly state: 1. VVPAT is not the only solution for voter verification; 2. NIST will continue to explore alternative voter verification solutions, which may include private receipt audit trail technologies; 3. NIST will issue guidelines for comprehensive logic and accuracy testing for DRES; 4. NIST will issue guidelines for parallel testing; 5. NIST will issue guidelines for HASH code monitoring by the states; and 6. NIST will issue these guidelines by a date certain. [Statements submitted to NIST Technical Guidelines Development Committee]