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Executive Summary
Pages 1-16

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From page 1...
... sought to examine this issue from the ground up -- that is, from a broader perspective than simply addressing the most salient points in the public debate. A first meaningful step in such an examination should be the articulation of important questions and issues that election officials, policy makers, and informed citizens should ask concerning the use of computers and information technology (IT)
From page 2...
... Fourth, trusted election processes should be regarded as the gold standard of election administration, where a trusted election process is one that works, can be shown to have worked after the election has been held, can be shown to have not been manipulated and to have not led to a large number of mistaken or lost votes, and can be shown to reflect the intent of the voters. Trusted election processes increase the likelihood that elections will be regarded as fair, even by the losing side and even in a partisan political environment.
From page 3...
... In so doing, they have placed a considerable amount of useful information on the public record, and they have successfully balanced a variety of concerns in some of their legislative efforts. At the same time, election officials are properly and appropriately concerned about many aspects of election administration, and they must balance a variety of considerations -- including security, speed and accuracy of reporting election results, usability, affordability, voter turnout, and compliance with federal, state, and local election laws.
From page 4...
... An electronic voting system refers to the generic hardware and software involved.) But computer-based systems can and do support the electoral process in at least three other important ways: voter registration lists are maintained on computer-based databases, and vote tabulation and ballot definition are election-related tasks conducted on computer-based administrative systems.
From page 5...
... Questions About Voter Registration Systems 4-1. Are the relative priorities of election officials in the purging of voter registration databases acceptable (placing greater impor tance on preventing the improper purging of eligible voters or on purging all possible ineligible voters)
From page 6...
... 4-7. How are privacy issues handled in a voter registration database?
From page 7...
... But whereas computer scientists will presume that a vulnerability is significant until shown otherwise, election officials are willing to presume that the integrity of an election has not been breached until some evidence is produced to the contrary. This difference in perspective largely accounts for the tendency of some election officials to blame electronic voting skeptics for scaring the public about security issues, and for the tendency of some computer scientists to say that election officials have their heads in the sand.
From page 8...
... 4-15. How can election officials be sure that the voting systems in use on Election Day are in fact running the software that was qualified/certified?
From page 9...
... Ballot marking systems must be highly usable by the broad public. A citizen in the voting booth facing an electronic voting system may not feel comfortable with information technology, may not be literate (with everyday reading and writing, to say nothing of being computer literate)
From page 10...
... Reconciling Security and Usability Election officials often believe that security and usability are necessarily traded off against one another. However, in the design of electronic voting systems, the trade-off between security and usability is not necessarily so stark.
From page 11...
... POLL WORKER TRAINING Poll workers play an essential role in the electoral process today. But in the context of electronic voting systems, the range of things a poll worker might be responsible for doing is arguably even larger than when
From page 12...
... DATA Data are lacking on many aspects of the electoral process that are needed to make improvements or to conduct audits. With high-quality, consistent data in hand, a great deal can be learned about the workings of voting machines, voter registration systems, and reforms in different states that would inform the election administration process.
From page 13...
... PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN ELECTIONS Election officials have been very concerned that various election problems in recent election years (most particularly in 2000, and to a lesser extent in 2002 and 2004) have shaken public confidence in elections, with the likely impact of depressing voter turnout in the short term and potentially undermining the legitimacy of government in the longer term.
From page 14...
... How can election officials obtain sources of information about electronic voting systems other than the sources provided by vendors?
From page 15...
... Similar comments at the state level apply to many statewide voter registration databases. For both electronic voting systems and voter registration databases, vendors are often the primary and most important source of expertise.
From page 16...
... 6-34. How and to what extent is secure absentee voter registration feasible?


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