US Election Assistance Commission - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines Vote
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Section CommentsGeneral CommentsGlossary Comments
 
Name :   David Dill
Organization :   Verified Voting Foundation
Post Date :   9/30/2005

Glossary Comments
Glossary Term :  Voting Officials
Definition :  
Comment :  Term used to designate the group of people associated with elections,
including election personnel, poll workers, ballot designers and those responsible for the installation and maintenance of the voting systems.
Association: voting
Source: no attribution

This definition appears to blur distinctions between those individuals employed by the government agencies (elections department, county registrar’s or clerk’s office, etc.)
responsible for the conduct of the election and those privately employed by the vendors (or third-party maintainers) of the voting systems used to conduct the election. While the
former are usually duly-sworn individuals who are accountable to those government agencies who are in turn accountable to the voting public, the latter typically are not. This
definition might be used to imply that employees of voting systems vendors who are “responsible for the installation and maintenance of the voting systems” are in fact “voting
officials”. This definition should be tightened to eliminate such an interpretation. Voting officials should be duly authorized by a government authority.