NIST Scientist to Testify at Election Assistance Commission Hearing

The Election Assistance Commission has scheduled a public hearing on the present status of computerized electronic voting systems for Wednesday May 5, 2004. The hearing will take place at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Room 3000, Rachel L. Carson Great Hall, Ariel Rios North Building, Washington, DC. (Metro Riders: Take the Orange or Blue Line to Federal Triangle Metro Stop). NIST Scientist Dr. Sharon Laskowski will testify on improving the usability and accessibility of voting systems. For more details see the Agenda and EAC Press Release.

NIST Director Participates in First Election Assistance Commission Meeting

Dr. Arden Bement, Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology congratulated the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) during his invited remarks at the historic March 23, 2004 inaugural EAC public hearing. NIST will assist the EAC in holding a public hearing on electronic voting technologies in early May. Details on the exact meeting date and location will be posted on the http://vote.nist.gov web site as soon as they are available.

A New HAVA Implementation Plan for NIST

NIST funds appropriated for help America Vote (HAVA) activities ran out at the end of December 2003. Those funds allowed NIST to draft a Report to Congress on the impact of human factors on the effectiveness of election-related technologies; hire a project leader; and hold the Symposium on Building Trust and Confidence in Voting Systems.

Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004, no funds were targeted for NIST to continue its voting program, and NIST had an overall budget reduction. After discussions with its constituencies and because of the critical importance of NIST’s HAVA work to them and to the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC), NIST has decided to proceed with a limited HAVA program for the remainder of FY 2004. The HAVA implementation plan will continue the important work of outreach to the election community, deliver the final Human Factors Report to Congress and start a new voting standards accreditation program.( The EAC is currently reviewing the final draft of the Human Factors Report)

In addition, NIST will work with the Elections Assistance Commission to begin the important work of the Technical Guidelines Committee (TGDC).

These activities will require $375,000 of NIST’s existing base funding. Other HAVA related work will be delayed.

FY 2005 NIST support depends on final funding of the EAC and that agency’s need for technical assistance from NIST.

NIST Workshop:Digital Forensics Using Hashsets

This one day workshop at NIST will bring digital forensic tool users, digital forensic tool vendors, and hashset producers together to expand user awareness, improve tool capabilities and guide hashset development. The Workshop is scheduled for Tuesday June 29 2004 at NISTs Gaithersburg campus. (Voting software developers, vendors and government IT election officials will find this workshop valuable.)

Registration and agenda information is available at: http://www.nsrl.nist.gov/hash-a-pa-looza.html.

NIST Special Publications: Computer Security Resource Center

The entire 800 Series of NIST Special Publications is available on line. Election officials and Information Technology staff at the state and local level will find worthwhile computer security tips in these publications available at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/index.html

First Edition - Since the December Symposium

This e-newsletter is the first of an on-going series of updates for the election community of HAVA activities at NIST. The driving force for these snippets of information is “timeliness”. In most instances, they will be short with one or two items that the editor thinks are of value to the election community. I welcome your thoughts and ideas for improvements. (Ed.)

Since the December Symposium

Even though NIST has been struggling with budget issues, we have decided not to hibernate or migrate north to Canada for the ice fishing season. (The latter option was difficult to reject.)We have finished CDs of the 1st Symposium on Building Trust and Confidence in Voting Systems. Attendees will shortly receive their copies. A limited number of copies remain for free distribution. Send me your mailing address and I will ship a set to you (one per customer). The archived web cast of the Symposium is also available from our Home page.