EAC Certifies 1st Voting System
The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) announced Friday that it has completed the first federal certification of a voting system. This clearly represents a huge step in the testing and certification of voting systems in the United States.
Friday’s certification of Election Management System (EMS) 4.0 by MicroVote General Corporation represents more than 17 months of testing performed by the nationally accredited Voting System Testing Laboratory iBeta Quality Assurance and reviews by the EAC. The final requirements include:
- Rebuild the voting system in a trusted environment, known as a “trusted build” (this is performed by the accredited test lab);
- Provide software identification tools to the EAC so that whoever purchases the system can verify its authenticity ;
- Provide voting system software for the EAC repository; and
- Agree in writing to all EAC certification conditions and program requirements
The current federal requirements, the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2005 (VVSG) were written by the EAC’s Technical Guidelines Developement Committe in conjuction with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The VVSG replaced the Voting System Standards (VSS) developed by the Federal Election Commission and administered by the National Association of State Election Directors, a private association.
The EAC’s Testing and Certification Program has been the source of significant criticism since it’s creation by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The final version of these guidelines were adopted in December 2005 but the complete Testing and Certification Program was not finalized until 2007. Approximately 10 states require some form of federal certification for voting machines.
Criticisms of current voting systems is in no short supply. With the current pace of the testing and certification process along with the momumental barrier to entry for new systems, it’s unclear if improved systems will ever be introduced. A balance an avenue for innovation must be found. Of the nine systems currently enrolled in the EAC certication program, six are being tested to the obsolete 2002 standards. Other systems have been subject to over 2 years of testing with no end in site. Three applications have already been terminated.
Cost estimates to certify a voting system to the current standards have been benchmarked near $2 million dollars per voting system, compared to the previous certification costs of $500k to $1 million. Including indirect costs vendors have estimated the total cost of certification to have increased close to 400%. The cost of certification has been a significant concern. Comparing voting system certification tothat of the Nevada Gaming Commission, we find gaming machines take 6 to 18 months to certify at a fixed cost of $150 per hour.
The EAC recently held a Unified Testing Initiative and Cost of Testing Meeting, bringing together industry professionals as well as regulators. While the meeting including discussing possible ways to balance quality testing and cost, the next iteration of the VVSG, currently awaiting completion, is expecting to skyrocket both the cost of certification and the time to market.
The next iteration of the VVSG certainly represents the best understanding of technology to date and is magnitudes more advanced than the current standards. Unfortunetly with the current processes in place, it is unlikely that any system will be certified to those standards in the near future. If the United States is serious about improving the administration of elections significant changes must be adopted to improve the accuracy, accessibility and security of voting systems.