EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Fernando Morales
Organization : | Registered voter of the U.S.A.
Post Date : | 8/24/2005
Section Comments
Section : | A1C
Page no. : | 3
Line no.: |
Comment : | [Volume 1, Appendix C] 3.- Paragraph with “ballot and input controls are visible only to the voter” should be rewritten Volume 1, Appendix C Best Practices for Election Officials; Pg 3; under Best Practices, the first point reads: “The ballot and any input controls are visible only to the voter during the voting session and ballot submission. Poll workers need to take into account such factors as visual barriers, windows, permitted waiting areas for other voters and…”. Rationale: Being visible only to the voter is not sufficient as it doesn’t fully comply with HAVA because it does not preclude the voter from taking a picture from the voting machine and imposes unnecessary restrictions, when another methodology is available that can achieve the HAVA requirements without those restrictions. Lines 11 and 12 of Pg 2-42 of the VVSG state: “Privacy in this context, including the property of the voter being unable to disclose his or her vote, ensures that the voter can make choices based solely on his or her own preferences without intimidation or inhibition” Therefore the wording shall be replaced as follows (or something to that effect): “Appropriate procedures need to be in place to ensure during a visual voting session and ballot submission that voters are prevented from walking away with a proof to another on how he or she voted. Poll workers need to take into account such factors as visual barriers, windows, witnesses, cameras, cell phones, permitted waiting areas for other voters and…”.