US Election Assistance Commission - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines Vote
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Name :   Ian S. Piper
Organization :   Diebold Election Systems, Inc.
Post Date :   9/29/2005

Section Comments
Section :  2.2.7.4.2.1.1
Page no. :  2-43
Line no.:  16
Comment :  This requirement "No information shall be kept within a non-paper-based cast vote record that identifies any alternative language feature(s) used by a voter.", is a double standard, as it is made mandatory for a non-paper based system but a paper based system gets a free pass.  It is understood that specific technical requirements may be necessary based on the nature of a voting system, say for marking a ballot, but general requirements, such as privacy, which are mandated by HAVA, should be applicable to all voting systems regardless of their nature.  This requirement should be changed so that it can apply to all voting systems or it should be removed from the standard.

Proposed change:  Either 1) remove the requirement or 2) replace it with the following language, "Information shall not be compiled for the purposes of establishing the voting selection trends of voters using alternative languages ."  

A discussion item can be included below this requirement that states "This requirement is applicable to voting systems and the procedures of election officials, however, it is not meant to exclude the compilation of information establishing how many times an alternative language was used."