[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 5, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11892-11894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4238]


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ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION


Proposed Guidance on Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

AGENCY: United States Election Assistance Commission.

ACTION: Notice of 60 day extension of public comment period for TGDC 
draft recommendations of Voluntary Voting System Guidelines and request 
for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) (Pub. L. 107-252, 
October 29, 2002) established the U.S. Election

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Assistance Commission (EAC). Section 202 of HAVA directs the EAC to 
adopt voluntary voting system guidelines (WSG) and to provide for the 
testing, certification, decertification, and recertification of voting 
system hardware and software. The VVSG provides specifications and 
standards against which voting systems can be tested to determine if 
they provide basic functionality, accessibility, and security 
capabilities. Section 221 of HAVA mandates the creation of the 
Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) to assist the EAC in 
developing its voluntary voting system guidance. The TGDC has 
recommended standards to the EAC. These recommended standards were 
submitted by the TGDC to the EAC's Executive Director pursuant to 
section 221 of HAVA.
    As part of its development process the EAC is seeking public 
comment on the TGDC's recommended standards. The EAC encourages the 
public to offer specific and detailed comments on all aspects and 
sections of the requirements. The EAC is particularly interested in 
receiving comments on three distinct issues:
    (1) The concept of Software Independence and the corresponding 
requirements for Independent Voter Verifiable Records and the 
Innovation class;
    (2) Open Ended Vulnerability Testing; and
    (3) The usability and accessibility benchmarks developed for this 
iteration of the VVSG.
    All three of these concepts are new to the VVSG and could have a 
substantial impact on the cost of implementation and on the security 
and accessibility of voting systems.
    The purpose of this notice is to extend the public comment period 
an additional sixty days. The EAC is currently in the process of 
conducting a series of roundtable discussions regarding the TGDC 
recommended guidelines. The first of these roundtables occurred on 
December 13, 2007 in Austin, TX and involved a group of computer 
security scientists from around the United States. The next roundtable 
was conducted on February 29, 2008 in Washington, DC and involved 
Voting System Manufacturers. The EAC is currently planning to conduct 
additional roundtables involving usability/accessibility professionals, 
election officials, and voting integrity advocates in March, April and 
May of 2008. The purpose of extending the public comment period is to 
allow the public the opportunity to continue to comment on the proposed 
standards including the ideas presented at the roundtables the EAC is 
conducting.

DATES: The comment period which originally ended March 5, 2008, is now 
extended to May 5, 2008. All comments must be received on or before 4 
p.m. on this day.
    Submission of Comments: The EAC provides two means of submission of 
comments: (1) On-line electronic comment form at http://www.eac.gov, 
and (2) by mail to Voluntary Voting System Guidelines Comments, U.S. 
Election Assistance Commission, 1225 New York Ave, NW., Suite 1100, 
Washington, DC 20005. Commenters are encouraged to submit comments 
electronically to ensure timely receipt and consideration.
    In order to allow efficient and effective review of comments the 
EAC requests that:
    (1) Comments should refer to the specific section that is the 
subject of the comment.
    (2) Comments regarding a term that is included or that should be 
added to the ``Appendix A: Definitions of Words with Special Meanings'' 
should reference the term, part, and section number to which the 
comment refers.
    (3) General comments regarding the entire document or comments that 
refer to more than one section should be made as specifically as 
possible so that EAC can clearly understand to which portion(s) of the 
documents the comment refers.
    (4) To the extent that a comment suggests a change in the wording 
of a requirement or section of the guidelines, please provide proposed 
language for the suggested change.
    To Obtain a Copy of the TGDC Draft Recommendations of the Voluntary 
Voting System Guidelines: Due to the fact that the Voluntary Voting 
System Guidelines are more than 550 pages in length, the entire draft 
document has not been attached to this notice. A complete copy of the 
TGDC draft recommendations of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines is 
available from the EAC in electronic format. An electronic copy can be 
downloaded in PDF format or read in HTML version on EAC's Web site, 
http://www.eac.gov. In order to obtain a paper copy of the TGDC draft 
recommendations please mail a written request to Voluntary Voting 
System Guidelines Comments, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1225 
New York Ave, NW., Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Masterson, Phone (202) 566-
3100, e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Prior to the passage of HAVA, the Federal 
Election Commission (FEC) published the 2002 Voting System Standards 
(VSS). HAVA mandated that the EAC update the VSS. In December of 2005 
the EAC adopted the 2005 VVSG. The 2005 VVSG used many of the same 
requirements as the 2002 VSS but it expanded the security, 
accessibility, and usability sections. On March 29, 2006, the TGDC held 
its first meeting to discuss the next iteration of the VVSG. Since that 
time, the TGDC has held numerous public meetings and subcommittee 
conference calls to create a set of draft guidelines for recommendation 
to the EAC (all TGDC meeting materials can be found at 
www.vote.nist.gov). On August 17, 2007, the TGDC voted to complete 
final edits of their recommendations and submit them to the Executive 
Director of the EAC. The EAC received the draft guidelines from the 
TGDC on August 31, 2007.
    The recommended guidelines currently consist of an Introduction and 
three distinct Parts. The Introduction is an overview of the 
requirements and explanations of new or expanded materials. Part 1 
contains the equipment requirements including upgraded requirements for 
security and new usability benchmarks for voting machines. Part 2 
details the documentation requirements for both the manufacturers and 
the Voting System Test Laboratories (VSTL). Part 2 also includes a 
section on the submission of the Technical Data Package and 
requirements for full system user documentation. Part 3 contains the 
testing requirements for voting machines. This includes new material on 
open ended vulnerability testing and new benchmarks for performance 
testing. In addition to the introduction and the three parts, the 
guidelines contain (1) An appendix for ``definitions of words with 
special meaning'' specific to the requirements and (2) an appendix 
detailing all references and end notes.
    Now that the TGDC has submitted its draft recommendations to the 
EAC for publication in the Federal Register, the EAC will begin its 
review and development process. This is a four phase plan:
    Phase I--EAC will submit the TGDC's draft document to the Federal 
Register and provide a public comment feature on http://www.eac.gov. 
The public comment period will last for 180 days and all comments will 
be made available for public review. This public comment period is not 
required by law, however the EAC thought it was

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extremely important to receive public input before proceeding with the 
process. During this public comment period the EAC will conduct public 
hearings regarding the TGDC's draft recommendations. The TDGC draft is 
currently available at http://www.eac.gov.
    Phase II--EAC will collect and review all public comments submitted 
on the TGDC draft. After consideration of all public comments, the EAC 
will then perform an internal review.
    Phase III--Based upon public comment and internal review of the 
TGDC document, the EAC will develop and publish its draft version in 
the Federal Register. The public will have another 120 days to comment 
on the EAC draft version. EAC will conduct public hearings to discuss 
its draft version.
    Phase IV--EAC will collect and review all comments submitted and 
make final modifications. The final version of the VVSG will be adopted 
by vote of the Commission at a public meeting and then published in the 
Federal Register.

Thomas R. Wilkey,
Executive Director, U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
[FR Doc. E8-4238 Filed 3-4-08; 8:45 am]
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