Election Assistance Commission March 5, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) (Pub. L. 107-252, October 29, 2002) established the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Section 202 of HAVA directs the EAC to adopt voluntary voting system guidelines (WSG) and to provide for the testing, certification, decertification, and recertification of voting system hardware and software. The VVSG provides specifications and standards against which voting systems can be tested to determine if they provide basic functionality, accessibility, and security capabilities. Section 221 of HAVA mandates the creation of the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) to assist the EAC in developing its voluntary voting system guidance. The TGDC has recommended standards to the EAC. These recommended standards were submitted by the TGDC to the EAC's Executive Director pursuant to section 221 of HAVA. As part of its development process the EAC is seeking public comment on the TGDC's recommended standards. The EAC encourages the public to offer specific and detailed comments on all aspects and sections of the requirements. The EAC is particularly interested in receiving comments on three distinct issues: (1) The concept of Software Independence and the corresponding requirements for Independent Voter Verifiable Records and the Innovation class; (2) Open Ended Vulnerability Testing; and (3) The usability and accessibility benchmarks developed for this iteration of the VVSG. All three of these concepts are new to the VVSG and could have a substantial impact on the cost of implementation and on the security and accessibility of voting systems. The purpose of this notice is to extend the public comment period an additional sixty days. The EAC is currently in the process of conducting a series of roundtable discussions regarding the TGDC recommended guidelines. The first of these roundtables occurred on December 13, 2007 in Austin, TX and involved a group of computer security scientists from around the United States. The next roundtable was conducted on February 29, 2008 in Washington, DC and involved Voting System Manufacturers. The EAC is currently planning to conduct additional roundtables involving usability/accessibility professionals, election officials, and voting integrity advocates in March, April and May of 2008. The purpose of extending the public comment period is to allow the public the opportunity to continue to comment on the proposed standards including the ideas presented at the roundtables the EAC is conducting.