California Secretary of State Lays Out Requirements for Electronic Voting Systems

In a speech on Wednesday to the California Black Chamber of Commerce, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson announced that he has imposed stringent new conditions on voting systems being considered for use in California elections, outlining ten critical requirements for any vendor applying for certification of voting equipment in the Golden State.

Additionally, Secretary McPherson announced the creation of the Office of Voting System Technology Assessment in the Secretary of State's Office. This will be a permanent, professional and fully staffed voting system technology and testing unit and will serve as a one-stop-shop for voting system certification.

"We must take these fundamental steps to guarantee public confidence in our voting process and accountability for its results," Secretary McPherson said. "The integrity of the vote is critically important and our state's voters deserve to have the confidence that voting machines are rigorously tested and are being analyzed by the best technical experts."

The new conditions for any vendor applying for certification of voting equipment throughout California provide a step-by-step process that identifies how a voting system will be examined to ensure accuracy, security and usability. For the first time, California will have a strict and clearly articulated list of benchmarks that voting systems and their manufacturers will need to meet to be able to be certified for use in California. These requirements will be codified into state regulation.

In a memo sent to county elections officials and all vendors currently certified by the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC), Secretary McPherson noted that he will not consider voting systems unless the vendors or products have:

1. Been federally certified by the EAC-approved independent testing authorities
   
   
2. Provided full documentation and training materials of all related system materials, including promotional materials
   
   
3. Provided comprehensive use procedures applicable to California elections
   
   
4. Established a county user group for annual system review and to ensure voter accessibility
   
   
5. Deposited source code in an approved escrow facility and a copy of the source code and binary executables with his office
   
   
6. Agreed to provide the Secretary of State a working version of the system components, upon request, for testing and analysis
   
   
7. Been certified to be used together as a comprehensive system if the components have been independently certified
   
   
8. Agreed to be combined only for purposes of aggregating vote totals or laying out their ballot types
   
   
9. Provided printing specifications for any ballots to be used with the components
   
   
10. Agreed to volume testing to simulate Election Day use.