Overview: The HAVA Voting Support Project provides support to the Election Assistance Commission's (EAC's) Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) in developing Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG). The Voting Project also includes the development of tests for the requirements in the VVSG and includes the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program's (NVLAP) assessment of potential voting system testing laboratories for possible accreditation by the EAC.

Industry Need Addressed: Standards/guidelines are vital for electronic voting systems. The standards/guidelines address many aspects of voting systems, including their usability and accessibility, privacy, reliability, and security. The range of applicable voting systems include optical scan, Direct Record Electronic (DRE), ballot marking devices, and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT). While the standards are voluntary, many states require federal certification to the standards as a prerequisite to purchase.

The voting system testing laboratories are assessed by NVLAP before they can be accredited by the EAC for testing of voting systems. The involvement of NVLAP helps to ensure that laboratory testing is of higher quality and that the testing is applied more uniformly across laboratories.

NIST/ITL Approach: NIST/ITL researchers are coordinating this effort with other voting standards organizations, industry, academia, and federal and state government agencies to research standards for voting systems. In particular, NIST/ITL researchers are:

Impact: The VVSG have a tremendous impact on voting system development, design, and testing for practically every voting system sold within the United States. The new requirements in the VVSG are responsible for significant improvements in voting system usability both for voters and election officials, and for the accessibility of voting systems for the disabled. The requirements are also responsible for significant upgrades to voting system quality in general, including reliability and security. The involvement of NVLAP in potential voting systems testing laboratory certification is now responsible for significantly improved voting system testing and resultant performance. Overall, NIST's work on this project will greatly improve the quality of electronic voting systems and their performance in conducting national, state, and local elections.