EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | David Beirne, et al.
Organization : | N/A
Post Date : | 9/27/2005
Glossary Comments
Glossary Term : | Data Accuracy
Definition : |
Comment : | In our review of the drafted Glossary for Voting Systems, I have prepared a listing of specific terms which need clarification. Below is a listing of these terms which require adjustments and/or clarification in their definitions prior to their adoption by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and United States Election Assistance Commission: Data Accuracy: The proposed definition includes the phrase “report the specific selections, and absence of selections made by the voter for each ballot position.” The use of the phrase “absence of selections” refers to undervoting which should not be a reflection of a voting machine’s accuracy, nor should it be considered as part of a ballot position’s error rate. All voting systems and all elections reflect undervotes. Accuracy is a qualitative measurement and as such, Voting System Precision which measures responses, within a standard deviation, would reflect whether the frequency of events is indicative of an overall error.