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New U.S. Voting Guidelines Improving States' Elections Processes Voting machines need to be more secure, experts say By Michelle Austein Washington File Staff Writer Washington – Recent changes to voting guidelines in the United States are helping ensure that every citizen’s vote is counted, but more improvements still are needed, said experts and officials who testified before a joint hearing of the House Science and House Administration committees July 19. The committees heard from election officials and voting technology experts on the impact of new voting standards and guidelines as established by the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the 2005 Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines. Congress passed HAVA to address voting problems encountered in the 2000 presidential election. The act encourages state and local governments to eliminate punch card and lever voting machines.  Under HAVA, states have received $2.9 billion since 2003 to improve their elections processes. HAVA includes requirements that voting machines and systems used in federal elections should meet. Under the new rules, voting machines should permit voters to verify and change their selections before casting their ballot, notify voters if they have voted for too many candidates and provide accessibility to voters with disabilities. HAVA also created the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a new agency to carry out these improvements.  One of the EAC’s mandates is the testing and certification of voting system hardware and software, said Donetta Davidson, commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission. The EAC approved the voluntary voting guidelines in December 2005, but the new standards will not be effective officially until December 2007. It is up to states to determine what aspects, if any, of the guidelines they enact. While the guidelines are voluntary, many of those who testified said they expect most states will follow them, as the majority of states already require compliance with federal voting guidelines. Companies that make voting equipment will risk losing clients if their machines do not meet the guidelines, said William Jeffrey, director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST.) "The marketplace, in this case the states and the public, provides the impetus for software developers to implement and conform to the standard," Jeffrey said. The EAC has worked with state and local election officials to improve election management when developing new guidelines, Davidson said. The guidelines cover a variety of procedures including how to store voting equipment and how to train poll workers. In 2006, one third of voters will cast their ballots on new machines, said Davidson, and for the first time every polling place will be equipped with machines to allow people with disabilities to vote privately and independently. Security of new voting machines was a chief concern to both the committee leaders and those who testified. Paperless voting machines have the greatest security risk, said David Wagner, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley and an expert in electronic voting security. “A single person with insider access and some technical knowledge could switch votes, perhaps undetected, and potentially swing an election,” he testified. The most effective security measure is to adopt a voter-verified paper record and mandatory audits of these records, Wagner said.  Currently, there is no effective way independently to check whether voting results are accurate or if electronic fraud has been committed, he said. Machines with wireless technology are particularly at risk and should not be used, said many of those who testified. Voting machines should be tested to see how well they protect against human error. “Many, if not most, of the problems that are experienced in the U.S. electoral process today are not directly technological, but involve humans and their interactions with technology,” said John Groh, senior vice president of the Election Systems & Software company. The guidelines will take time to implement said those who testified. “It is important to consider the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines as a long-term strategy to improve voting systems in the United States,” said Linda Lamone, Maryland's administrator of elections. “These guidelines cannot be viewed as a panacea with an immediate and dramatic impact on elections; their impact will be gradual and will not be known for several election cycles.” Transcripts of the testimonies are available on the House Science Committee's Web site. The full text of the Help America Vote Act is available on the Election Assistance Commission’s Web site.