Administering Electronic Voting
JUNE 2006
Administering Electronic Voting
In Iowa’s June primary election, optical scan machine errors led to a county-wide hand recount. Researchers continue to study whether safeguards such as voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPATs) are an effective solution. Meanwhile, NIST suggests best-practices for using VVPATs in audits, and the EAC has issued a management guide for new voting systems.
Featured Resources
In this Roll Call column, the Election Reform Project's Norm Ornstein takes on a variety of "big picture" election reform issues addressed by new legislation in Congress.
In this piece, Election Reform Project staff examine a number of steps that election officials in Utah have taken to increase the security of their direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting systems.
While the debate over the efficacy of abandoning recently acquired electronic voting systems continues across the country, this report makes recommendations on how jurisdictions can increase the security of the systems they already have in the interim.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommends that the EAC broaden the scope of its definition of voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPAT) currently contained in its 2005 voluntary voting system guidelines. NIST also proposes a scheme to audit VVPATs effectively.
In an attempt to avoid the up-to-five hour long lines that plagued some Ohio jurisdictions in 2004, the Franklin County Board of Elections has analyzed the underlying issues and made recommendations to improve the process for this November.
Research Projects
Election Law @ Moritz, run through Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University, contains both explanation and commentary on a wealth of election reform issues from a legal perspective.
This project aims to evaluate the current state of reliability and uniformity of U.S. voting systems; to establish uniform attributes and quantitative guidelines for performance and reliability of voting systems; and to propose specific uniform guidelines and requirements for reliable voting systems
Electionline.org provides daily news updates on election reform issues, as well as deeper analysis of selected topics, including recent reports on voter registration, recount procedures, and the progress in implementing the Help America Vote Act since 2002.
As part of its broader research focus on elections, campaign ethics, campaign finance, and the legislative process, the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland is engaged in research projects on voting technology and ballot design specifically.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
www.aei.org
The Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu
© Copyright 2006, AEI
and The Brookings Institution