EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Mary Kiffmeyer
Organization : | Minnesota Secretary of State
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
Section Comments
Section : | 6.8
Page no. : |
Line no.: |
Comment : | VOTER VERIFIED PAPER AUDIT TRAIL ("VVPAT") In Volume I, Section 6.8, the requirements for VVPAT are labeled as optional. Title III, Sec 301(a) of HAVA requires that the voting system shall: "permit the voter to verify (in a private and independent manner) the votes selected by the voter on the ballot before the ballot is cast and counted" In addition, however, it is also required that "the voting system shall produce a record with an audit capacity for such system." An analysis of this requirement in HAVA leads to the conclusion that only a VVPAT fully meets this requirement with reliability. Therefore, I recommend that VVPAT be made mandatory in the VVSG. This will help provide assurance that the elections process is being conducted in an accurate and fair manner. A voter should be able to verify their vote in complete confidence that their vote is counted as cast, and a VVPAT is necessary for purposes of a recount and that of an audit trail. A paper record is crucial to the success of an election and to the integrity of the process and, as importantly, to the trust that the voters place in our democratic system. At all costs, these Guidelines must help ensure that how the voter chooses to vote is the same thing that the machine is recording, and that the voter can fully trust the machine to record their vote correctly. In regards to the location of the VVPAT requirements, my recommendation is that this information be moved from Volume I, Section 6, Security to Volume I, Section 2, Voting System Functional Capabilities In its present location within the Voting System Guidelines, the VVPAT information seems out of place and hidden. In addition to the recommended changes stated above, a move of this information to Section 2 will give it the force it needs