Iowa Administrative Code
Agency 721 - Secretary of State
Division II - Elections
Chapter 22 - Voting Systems and Electronic Poll Books
Rule 721-22.1 - Definitions for Certification of Voting Equipment

"Accredited independent test authority " means a person or agency that was formally recognized by the National Association of State Election Directors as competent to design and perform qualification tests for voting system hardware and software. "Accredited independent test authority" also includes voting system test laboratories accredited by the Election Assistance Commission to test voting systems for compliance with federal voting system standards and guidelines, as required by the Help America Vote Act, Section 231.

"Audio ballot" means the presentation of the contents of a ballot on an electronic ballot marking device in a recorded format, played to the voter over headphones.

"Automatic tabulating equipment" means apparatuses that are utilized to ascertain the manner in which optical scan ballots have been marked by voters or by electronic ballot marking devices and to count the votes marked on the ballots.

"Ballot" means the official document that includes all of the offices or public measures to be voted upon at a single election, whether they appear on one or more paper ballots. The term includes optical scan paper ballots designed to be read by automatic tabulating equipment. In appropriate contexts, "ballot" also includes conventional paper ballots.

"Ballot marking device " means a pen, pencil, or similar writing tool, or an electronic device, all designed for use in marking an optical scan ballot, and so designed or fabricated that the mark it leaves may be detected and the vote so cast counted by automatic tabulating equipment.

"Certification " means formal approval of an optical scan voting system for use in Iowa pursuant to Iowa Code sections 52.5 and 52.26.

"De minimis change" means a change to a certified voting system's hardware, software, technical data package (TDP), or data, the nature of which will not materially alter the system's reliability, functionality, capability, or operation. Under no circumstances shall a change be considered de minimis if it has reasonable and identifiable potential to impact the system's performance and compliance with the applicable voting standard.

"Early voting " means the process of receiving ballots from voters before election day without using absentee voting procedures. Iowa law does not authorize this process.

"Electronic ballot marking device " means a component of an optical scan voting system designed to assist voters with disabilities by displaying audio and visual ballot information to the voter, providing accessible methods for the voter to make selections, and then printing the voter's choices on an optical scan ballot.

"Electronic poll book, " "epollbook, " "e-poll book, " or"electronic register " means hardware and software components used to verify and process voting activity and changes in voter registration and to check in voters. This definition includes e-poll books in use in the commissioner's office. However, this definition does not apply to the I-Voters statewide voter registration database.

"Electronic transmission" means using hardware and software components to send data over distances both within and external to the polling place and to receive an accurate copy of the transmission.

"Examiners " means the board of examiners for voting systems described in Iowa Code section 52.4.

"Memory storage device " means a small, removable device containing data files of the election definition programmed for use in voting equipment for each election.

"Modification" means a change to a certified voting system's software or firmware. Modification also means a change to a certified voting system's hardware that has the potential to affect the reliability, functionality, capability, security or operability of a system.

"Optical scan ballot" means a printed ballot designed to be marked by a voter with a ballot marking device and to be counted by use of automatic tabulating equipment.

"Optical scan voting system " means a system employing paper ballots under which votes are cast by voters by marking paper ballots with a ballot marking device and thereafter counted by use of automatic tabulating equipment.

"Program " means the written record of the set of instructions defining the operations to be performed by a computer in examining, counting, tabulating, and printing votes.

"Qualification test" means the examination and testing of a voting system by an independent test authority using the voting system standards required by Iowa Code section 52.5 and rule 721-22.2 (52) to determine whether the system complies with those standards.

"Vendor " means a person or representative of a person owning or being interested in an optical scan voting system and seeking certification of the equipment for use in elections in Iowa.

"Voting booth" means an enclosure designed to be used by a voter while marking a conventional paper ballot, optical scan ballot or ballot card.

"Voting equipment" means an optical scan voting system which is required by Iowa Code sections 52.5 and 52.26 to be approved for use by the examiners.

"Voting equipment malfunction" means a problem with the voting equipment that renders the equipment inoperable for a period of time when it is has been deployed for use during an election. "Voting equipment malfunction" does not include interruptions of equipment operations due to routine error messages as referred to in subrule 22.261(5), 22.262(6) or 22.266(5).

"Voting system" means the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical or electronic equipment (including the software, firmware and documentation required to program, control and support the equipment that is used to define ballots, to cast and count votes, to report or display election results and to maintain and produce any audit trail information). "Voting system" also includes the practices and associated documentation used to identify system components and versions of such components, to test the system during its development and maintenance, to maintain records of system errors and defects, to determine specific system changes to be made to a system after the initial qualification of the system and to make available any materials to the voter such as notices, instructions, forms or paper ballots. (See Section 301(b) of HAVA.)