[Nfbf-l] FW: EAC 120-Day Public Comment Period for VVSG 1.1 Begins Today

Tue Jun 9 04:06:38 UTC 2009

United States
Election Assistance Commission
1225 New York Avenue N.W. - Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005	
For Immediate Release 	Contact: 
Jeannie Layson, Sarah Litton
06/01/2009
(202) 566-3100 

120-Day Public Comment Period for VVSG 1.1 Begins Today 

WASHINGTON- The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will hold a
120-day public comment period for the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines
<http://www.eac.gov/News/press/120-day-public-comment-period-for-vvsg-1-1-be
gins-today/portal_factory/PressRelease/program-areas/voting-systems/voluntar
y-voting-guidelines>  (VVSG) version 1.1 beginning June 1, 2009. The purpose
of the comment period is to provide an opportunity for the public to offer
input on proposed revisions to the 2005 VVSG.

The VVSG are a set of federal specifications and requirements that are used
to test voting systems for basic functionality, accessibility and security
capabilities. EAC certifies voting systems according to this standard and
requires testing to determine compliance with it. EAC certification is
entirely voluntary - states are not required to use EAC-certified voting
systems and voting system manufacturers are not required to obtain federal
certification.

Why the revision is needed
The guidelines are being revised to improve the quality and efficiency of
testing performed under the EAC testing and certification program by
including new software development and testing protocols and practices. This
includes the development of uniform test suites by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology
<http://www.eac.gov/extlnk/lnkframehead.htm?http%3A//www.vote.nist.gov/>
(NIST). This revision will also clarify several ambiguities in the standard,
providing test labs and voting system manufacturers with a clearer sense of
performance and test requirements for EAC certification.

The revision process
In partnership with NIST, EAC routinely examines the VVSG to make sure they
reflect the best and most recent software development and testing standards
and protocols. This involves informal observation and information gathering
as well as formal requests for input from a broad group of stakeholders,
including computer scientists, usability and accessibility experts, election
officials, voter advocates, voting machine vendors and federally accredited
test labs.

The proposed revisions are largely informed by the EAC Technical Guidelines
Development Committee <http://www.eac.gov/News/about/committees/tgdc> ,
which issued recommendations for the next iteration of the VVSG, and the
thousands of public comments on the recommendations that the EAC solicited.
The EAC also held seven roundtable discussions with groups of stakeholders
to gather additional information on the recommendations.

By revising the guidelines now, the EAC expects to improve the test process
over the short term while allowing additional time to develop more complex
revisions to be included in the second complete iteration of the guidelines,
the VVSG version 2.0.

Areas to be revised
The EAC and NIST selected the revisions based on their ability to yield
immediate and marked improvements to the test process and be implemented
with relative ease. Moreover, the revisions do not require any hardware
changes or significant software changes, and can be adopted without extended
research.

The revisions replace outdated practices with modern, proven methods that
improve the development, analysis and testing of voting system logic. For
example, by adding block structured exception handling to the list of
acceptable control constructs, vendors will be able to use modern error
handling techniques to better guard against undetected errors and improve
system robustness.

The proposed revisions are limited to usability and accessibility, security,
and core areas such as software workmanship. Following is a complete list of
areas to be revised:

1) Hardware and software performance benchmarks and test method
2) Software workmanship
3) Test plan and test report
4) TDP and voting equipment user documentation
5) Non-EMC environmental hardware
6) Human factors requirements
7) System security documentation requirements
8) Election records
9) Voter verified paper audit trails (VVPAT)
10) Cryptography
11) External interface requirement
12) EAC requests for interpretation (RFI) decisions
13) General edits

A draft of the proposed revisions along with frequently asked questions
<http://www.eac.gov/News/program-areas/voting-systems/voting-system-certific
ation/2005-vvsg/draft-revisions-to-the-2005-voluntary-voting-system-guidelin
es-vvsg-v-1-1>  about the process are posted on the EAC Web site.

Timeline for adopting the revisions
At the conclusion of the 120-day public comment period, the EAC and NIST
will review the comments received on the proposed revisions, and will issue
the revised guidelines, VVSG version 1.1, in late 2009.

Methods for submitting comments
Comments may be e-mailed to votingsystemguidelines at eac.gov
<mailto:votingsystemguidelines at eac.gov>  or mailed to Voluntary Voting
System Guidelines Comments, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1225 New
York Avenue, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC  20005.  In addition, an online
comment tool will be available this summer at www.eac.gov
<http://www.eac.gov/News/press/120-day-public-comment-period-for-vvsg-1-1-be
gins-today/portal_factory/PressRelease/portal_factory/PressRelease/> . The
are posted on the EAC Web site.

Background information
For more information about the VVSG and the Voting System Testing and
Certification program, visit the Voting Systems Center
<http://www.eac.gov/News/program-areas/voting-systems/>  at www.eac.gov
<http://www.eac.gov/News/press/120-day-public-comment-period-for-vvsg-1-1-be
gins-today/portal_factory/PressRelease/portal_factory/PressRelease/> .

The EAC is an independent commission created by the Help America Vote Act.
The EAC serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information
regarding election administration.  It is charged with administering
payments to states and developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements,
adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system
test laboratories and certifying voting equipment.  It is also charged with
developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form. The
three EAC commissioners are Gineen Bresso Beach, chair; Gracia Hillman, vice
chair and Donetta Davidson. There is one vacancy on the Commission.

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