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EAC to Host Final Public Hearing for Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0

Testing & Certification

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, May 14, 2019

 

Silver Spring, MD – The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will host its final public hearing to receive testimony and public comments on the proposed Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.0 Principles and Guidelines from 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 20, 2019 at its Silver Spring headquarters. The hearing will feature testimony from Secretaries of State, representatives from Voting System Test Laboratories, and other election technology experts. It will also include a public comment period.

The event is open to the public and will be livestreamed on the EAC’s website.

In February, the four EAC Commissioners unanimously voted to publish the VVSG 2.0 Principles and Guidelines in the Federal Register for a 90-day public comment period, which will conclude on May 29, 2019. At that time, the Commissioners also announced their intention to host a series of public hearings to gather feedback on the proposed principles and guidelines.

VVSG are a set of Principles, Guidelines and Requirements against which voting systems can be tested to determine if the systems meet required standards. Some factors examined under these standards include functionality, accessibility, accuracy, auditability and security capabilities. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 mandates that EAC develop and maintain these requirements, and use them to test and certify voting systems. These guidelines are voluntary. States may decide to adopt them entirely or in part prior to the effective date. 
 
The structure of the new VVSG reflects modifications proposed by the EAC’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC), which is comprised of election officials, voting system manufacturers, disability experts, cybersecurity experts, technology experts, and other key election stakeholders. The new guidelines are a high level set of principles that will be supplemented by accompanying documents that detail specific requirements for how systems can meet the new guidelines and obtain certification. The supplemental documents will also detail assertions for how the accredited test laboratories will validate that a system complies with those requirements.

WHAT:

Final Public Hearing for the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0

WHO:

  • Honorable Paul Pate, Secretary of State, Iowa
  • Traci Mapps, Director of Operations, SLI Compliance
  • Jack Cobb, Laboratory Director, Pro V&V
  • Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Chief Technologist and Director of the Internet Architecture Project, the Center for Democracy and Technology
  • Public Comments from Attendees

WHEN:

Monday, May 20, 2019 from 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. EDT

WHERE:

1335 East West Highway, 1st Floor Conference Room

Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910

Livestream available at /

Media planning to attend are strongly encouraged to RSVP in advance, as space is limited, to Brenda Bowser Soder at [email protected] or 202-897-9285.

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The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). It is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with ensuring secure, accurate and accessible elections by developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration. EAC also accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, as well as administers the use of HAVA funds. For more information, visit www.eac.gov.

Keywords
media, voluntary voting system guidelines (VVSG)