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NIST Director Testifies on Voting Machine Standards

On July 19, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Director Bill Jeffrey testified before the House Committee on Science and the Committee on House Administration on "Voting Machines: Will New Standards and Guidelines Help Prevent Future Problems?"

As part of his testimony, Jeffrey discussed the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) of 2005, delivered to the Election Assistance Commission in May 2005. Jeffrey said, "The VVSG 2005 built upon the strengths of the previous Voting Systems Standards and enhanced areas needing improvement and added new material. The new material adds more formalism and precision to the requirements using constructs and language commonly used in rigorous, well-specified standards. The new material focuses primarily on usability, accessibility, and security."

Jeffrey also addressed the VVSG 2007, currently planned for delivery to the EAC in July 2007. He said, "The VVSG 2007 builds upon the VVSG 2005, but takes a fresh look at many of the requirements. It will be a larger, more comprehensive standard, with more thorough treatments of security areas and requirements for equipment integrity and reliability." 

See Jeffrey's complete testimony.

Released July 20, 2006, Updated January 23, 2023