Elections : federal program for certifying voting systems needs to be further defined, fully implemented, and expanded : report to the chairman, Committee on House Administration, House of Representatives /
The 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) created the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and, among other things, assigned the commission responsibility for testing and certifying voting systems. In view of concerns about voting systems and the important role EAC plays in certifying them, GAO was aske...
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| Corporate Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Government Document eBook |
| Language: | English |
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[Washington, D.C.] :
U.S. Government Accountability Office,
[2008]
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| Series: | U.S. Congressional Research.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | The 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) created the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and, among other things, assigned the commission responsibility for testing and certifying voting systems. In view of concerns about voting systems and the important role EAC plays in certifying them, GAO was asked to determine whether EAC has (1) defined an effective approach to testing and certifying voting systems, (2) followed its defined approach, and (3) developed an effective mechanism to track problems with certified systems and use the results to improve its approach. To accomplish this, GAO compared EAC guidelines and procedures with applicable statutes, guidance, and best practices, and examined the extent to which they have been implemented. EAC has defined an approach to testing and certifying voting systems that follows a range of relevant practices and statutory requirements associated with a product certification program, including those published by U.S. and international standards organizations, and those reflected in HAVA. EAC, however, has yet to define its approach in sufficient detail to ensure that certification activities are performed thoroughly and consistently. This lack of definition also has caused voting system manufacturers and test laboratories to interpret program requirements differently, and the resultant need to reconcile these differences has contributed to delays in certifying systems that several states were intending to use in the 2008 elections. According to EAC officials, these definitional gaps can be attributed to the program's youth and the commission's limited resources being devoted to other priorities. Nevertheless, they said that they intend to address these gaps, but added that they do not yet have written plans for doing so. EAC has largely followed its defined approach for each of the dozen systems it is in the process of certifying, with one major exception. Specifically, it has not established an effective and efficient. |
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| Item Description: | Record is based on bibliographic data in ProQuest U.S. Congressional Research Digital Collection. Reuse except for individual research requires license from ProQuest, LLC. Electronic resource. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. Also available via the Internet from the GAO website. Address as of 10/27/2008: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08814.pdf. |