US Election Assistance Commission - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines Vote
EAC Home
Introduction
View Guidelines
View Comments
Glossary

View Comments

Section CommentsGeneral CommentsGlossary Comments
 
Name :   James C. Johnson III
Organization :   N/A
Post Date :   9/9/2005

General Comments
Comment :  As much as I would like to support this process of voting system  
certification, I find it extremely difficult. This process is so important  
to the functioning of our democracy that I find it difficult to follow  
the logic being used in developing these specifications, developing and  
maintaining voting system. Having tracked this process from the IEEE  
through the TGDC and EAC process, I personally find it disturbing that  
recommendation by security experts such as Dr. Rivest and his subcommittee  
have been consistently weakened, while partisan election officials were  
allowed to shape the standards to facilitate undetectable abuse.  

We start with the fact that this is a set of VOLUNTARY Voting System  
Guidelines. They have been shaped [at the IEEE level] largely by voting  
system manufacturer’s that dominate the study groups, and whose main  
concern is making a profit, and who have no fiduciary responsibility.  
At the TGDC level election officials further weakened the standards, largely  
removing any serious efforts to mandate security. These MINIMUM  
specifications (especially with respect to security and integrity) that  
have resulted are also flawed and open to wide interpretation. The  
Independent Testing Authorities are hired by the manufacturers to test  
their systems. There are no penalties to either the manufacturer or the  
ITA when systems that are deployed with flaws.