MEDIA ADVISORY:
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Memphis, TN – The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will host a public hearing from 1 – 4 p.m. CDT (2 – 5 p.m. EDT) on April 10 in Memphis to receive testimony on the proposed Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.0 Principles and Guidelines. The hearing will feature testimony from EAC and NIST staff, as well leaders from the EAC’s Standards Board and Board of Advisors. It will also include a public comment period. The event is open to the public and will be livestreamed on the EAC’s website, www.eac.gov.
In February, the four EAC Commissioners unanimously voted to publish the VVSG 2.0 Principles and Guidelines in the Federal Register for a 90-day public comment period that is currently underway. At that time, the Commissioners announced their intention to also hold public hearings to gather feedback on the proposed principles and guidelines. The upcoming Memphis hearing takes place one day before the EAC’s Standards Board is scheduled to gather for its annual meeting.
VVSG are a set of Principles, Guidelines and Requirements against which voting systems can be tested to determine if the systems meet required standards. Some factors examined under these tests include functionality, accessibility, accuracy, auditability and security capabilities. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 mandates that EAC develop and maintain these requirements as well as testing and certifying voting systems. These guidelines are voluntary. States may decide to adopt them entirely or in part prior to the effective date.
The structure of the new VVSG reflects modifications proposed by the EAC’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC), which is comprised of election officials, voting system manufacturers, disability experts, cyber security experts, technology experts, and other key election stakeholders. The new guidelines are a high level set of principles that will be supplemented by accompanying documents that detail specific requirements for how systems can meet the new guidelines and obtain certification. The supplemental documents will also detail assertions for how the accredited test laboratories will validate that a system complies with those requirements.
Last Spring, the EAC convened its advisory boards to review and comment on the adoption of the newest version of the voluntary guidelines, VVSG 2.0. Both Boards recommended that the EAC adopt VVSG 2.0. The unanimous Commissioner vote in February occurred less than two weeks after a quorum of Commissioners was restored at the EAC.
WHAT: EAC Public Hearing on Proposed VVSG 2.0 Principles and Guidelines
WHO: Christy McCormick, Chairwoman, EACBen Hovland, Vice Chair, EAC
Thomas Hicks, Commissioner, EAC
Donald Palmer, Commissioner, EAC
Panel 1
Brian Newby, Executive Director, EAC
Ryan Macias, Acting Director of Testing and Certification, EAC
Panel 2
Mary Brady, NIST
Greg Riddlemoser, Chair, EAC Standards Board
Michael Yaki, Vice Chair, EAC Board of Advisors
Mark Goins, Coordinator of Elections, State of Tennessee & Former
Chair, EAC Standards Board
WHEN: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
1 – 4 p.m. CDT, 2 – 5 p.m. EDT
WHERE: The Peabody Memphis Hotel, 118 S 2nd Street, Memphis, TN
Continental Ballroom
The event will also be livestreamed on www.eac.gov
RSVP: In order to ensure adequate reserved seating, media planning to attend in
person should contact Brenda Bowser Soder at [email protected] or
202-897-9285.