12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting Ballot On Demand David Flater National Institute of Standards and Technology

12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting What is Ballot On Demand? What does it integrate with? How does it work? What problems does it solve? More than one answer At least two commercial products Wish-listing Need to agree on a generic, neutral definition that leaves room for future innovation but eliminates spurious use cases Page 2 12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting

BOD = no pre-printed ballots A dedicated application, possibly integrated with an electronic pollbook and/or registration database, prints out a ballot of the correct ballot style as each voter is checked in, based on each voter's registration information. No ballots are prepared in advance. May be of particular use in vote centers for early voting. Concerns Potential for information leakage from registration to ballots Extra set-up, calibration and testing steps for COTS printers Scanning: quality and variability of printed ballots Another thing that can fail on election day Page 3 12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting

BOD = a backup mechanism A dedicated application running in the polling place is used by election officials on location to produce additional ballots in response to emergencies such as (1) the ballots prepared in advance run out; (2) as a back-up voting mechanism in case the DREs won't work; (3) as an accommodation for voters who specifically want or need a paper ballot instead of a DRE. Concerns Scanning: mixing ballots from two different production processes Readiness testing and L&A testing for the back-up path—delay between testing and use Page 4 12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting

BOD = Electronic Ballot Printer An Electronically-assisted Ballot Marker which integrates the BOD functionality. One does not need to have a blank ballot of the correct ballot style prepared in advance; the device activates the correct style of ballot, collects the votes, and prints the completed ballot (both ballot style information and votes) onto blank paper. No electronic record of the votes is retained by the device. Already handled by draft VVSG 2.0 as EBP Manufacturer must specify printer set-up, calibration and testing, paper, ink or toner, and other variables, sufficient to meet accuracy benchmark Page 5 12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting

BOD = DRE + printer A DRE has a BOD feature as a kind of add-on whereby it can send an activated ballot to a printer instead of displaying it on the touchscreen. Blank ballots only—implementation of first or second use case Voted ballots—additional concerns Retention, tabulation, use of electronic CVRs in parallel to paper ballots is interesting, disruptive possibility Page 6 12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting

Other use cases Uniformed and overseas citizens—remote locations Voters print their own absentee ballots at home Different requirements and consequences for security, privacy, etc. Page 7 12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting

Summary Need to agree on a generic, neutral definition that leaves room for future innovation but eliminates spurious use cases Most likely impacts on VVSG Classify any new devices Security implications re information leakage from registration Security implications re multiple applications on the same device Readiness testing, L&A testing Usability for poll workers Reliability benchmark? Issues for certification Variability of COTS printers, paper, ink or toner vs. performance and calibration of the scanners Quality of manufacturer specification of printer set-up, calibration and testing, paper, ink or toner, and other variables Page 8 12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting