Executive Summary

In this report, we examine how voting technologies and election administration in the United States have changed—or have not changed—since the controversial 2000 presidential election. We present our research and analyses of the past 12 years, as well as the perspectives of a number of individuals prominent in the election administration, voting technology, and election advocacy communities. 

Based on our research reported here, we provide the following recommendations for how we might improve the administration and technology of elections in the United States.

Voting Technology

» Legislation mandating effective election auditing, which at a minimum would require post-election auditing of all voting technologies used in an election.

» Continued strong support for voting systems security research, emphasizing auditing and the verifiability of election outcomes.

» A movement toward mandating statistically meaningful post-election audits, rather than setting security standards for election equipment, as the primary way to safeguard the integrity of the vote.

» A new business model led by states and localities, with harmonized standards and requirements.

Voter Registration

» The streamlining of the provisional balloting process in many states and the creation of common best practices and voluntary standards across states.

» The development of voter verification systems in which states bear the cost of stringent voter ID regimes, in those states that desire to increase ID requirements for in-person voting.

» Continued standardization of voter registration databases, so they can be polled across states.

Polling Places and Pollworkers

» Continued improvement of pollworker training and more reliance on network technologies to facilitate pollworker training.

» Development of applications deployed on mobile devices that bring more information to poll workers, and transmit real-time data about Election Day workloads back to the central voting office and the public at large.

» Increased functionality of electronic pollbooks and their wider adoption.

» Development of applications that gauge how long voters are waiting in line to vote, so that wait times can be better managed and reported to the public.