“How to Ensure Accurate, Secure Voting Systems”

EAC Commissioner Ray Martinez III has written this Roll Call commentary (paid subscription required). A snippet:

    Since 2000, the National Institute on Standards and Technology, a well-respected government agency staffed by scientists, technicians and engineers, has operated the National Software Reference Library. Containing a collection of more than 7,000 software products in a secured room, the NSRL provides law enforcement personnel, including the FBI, with important data used to identify unknown and suspicious files on computer systems and to meet the need for court-admissible evidence in the identification of software files.
    Realizing the potential use of this application to the election process, last year the EAC called on all voting systems vendors to voluntarily submit their proprietary voting system software to the NSRL to create a similar repository for state and local election administrators. The voting system vendors agreed.
    Today, the NSRL contains proprietary code and software for most types of electronic voting systems used in this country. In the coming weeks, the EAC is expected to vote on a series of proposed final standards which, among other things, would require that all voting system software, including installation programs and third-party software, be deposited with the NSRL upon completion of a national voting system certification process, in which 41 states currently participate.

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