Principles for Tomorrow’s Voting Systems
Well there you have it. The next generation of technical specifications for US voting systems is one step closer to reality. Last Friday, the smallest United States agency that you’ve never heard of made an important move for elections. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) released a set of principles and guidelines governing future voting systems for public comment, starting February 28. The EAC has less than 50 individuals at the helm, but their mission helps them punch above their weight class. There’s a lot of good in the next version of the standards and we’re all going to benefit. Be excited!
For those that don’t know, the EAC runs a voluntary program to test and certify voting systems for use in the United States. With the help of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), they also set voluntary technical standards for all of the touchscreens, ballot scanners, and tabulation systems coming onto the market. The principles and guidelines will support the new US federal voting standards, known as version 2.0 of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG). The VVSG has been around since 1989, although it’s been known under a few different monikers, and it received its present name in 2005. The upcoming version charts a new course for the VVSG, completely revamping the structure and changing how voting system requirements are created. It’s a re-write.
I think it’s important to take a second and discuss what the VVSG actually is, and what it’s not. The VVSG is a set of voluntary requirements that states may choose to use. Notice how I keep saying the word voluntary — federalism is alive and well in the election world. Voting machine makers don’t have to get their systems tested, and States don’t have to use certified systems. The requirements cover the technical aspects of a voting system and not procedural practices. This means that methods of counting ballots or procedural auditing practices simply aren’t part of the standards. A voting system is loosely defined as computers used to capture choices from voters and separate computers to tally the votes. That means that voter registration systems and electronic pollbooks are excluded from the standards. In fact the US has no legally mandated technical standards for voter registration systems — even after they were attacked by the Russians. Kind of crazy right?
In the grand scheme of things, this individual piece of news is a part of a multi-year standards setting process. The original principles and guidelines were developed by a set of Working Groups led by NIST and EAC a few years back. Since then, the prestigious Technical Guidelines and Development Committee (TGDC) affirmed their support in 2017. In fact, you can see me being quite nervous and discussing these principles in front of the TGDC. Once these make it through public comment, each testable requirement for a voting system will have to fall under one of the principles and guidelines.
If you’re interested in participating in providing public comments I suggest you start your engines. The EAC announced the starting date of the comment period as Feb 28, you’ll have 90 days to make your voice heard. The comment period closes May 29. I’ve actually been on the receiving end of the public comments for both EAC and NIST since I worked at both agencies. I recommend sending your comments as an Excel spreadsheet, not flowing paragraphs. Be as specific as possible and suggest text! Include which principle or guideline you’re discussing, recommended a specific change, and justify each change with academic or well-respected sources. If you just say something like “DO PAPER BALLOTZ” I’m quite certain that NIST and the EAC will politely respond with “Thank you for your comment”.
We’re only about halfway through the process and there’s a lot to go. NIST and EAC run a set of working groups actively writing detailed specifications for voting equipment. So if you’re interested, please jump on in and get your hands messy. In future posts I plan to deep dive into the principles that are being proposed, but you can find the list here. Check back for more updates as they arrive!
Originally published at cyberbabble.blog on February 22, 2019.
Note: This post was updated on February 25, 2019 to reflect the dates of the comment period announced by the EAC.
