Get out the smelling salt: EAC Certifies First Voting System After Year and a Half Testing

[Wilms]

EAC Certifies MicroVote EMS 4.0 Voting System

02/06/2009

WASHINGTON- The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) today certified the Election Management System (EMS) 4.0 by MicroVote General Corporation. It is the first voting system to achieve federal certification under the EAC Voting System Testing and Certification Program.

An EAC certification indicates that a voting system has met the requirements of the federal voluntary voting system guidelines by successfully passing a series of comprehensive tests conducted by a federally accredited test laboratory. Certified systems must also meet technical and ethical standards that ensure the integrity of the system as it goes from the test lab to production and into the marketplace.

The voluntary voting system guidelines are a set of specifications and requirements against which voting systems are tested for functionality, security and accessibility. They are developed with the National Institute of Standards and Technology through an inclusive process involving software and security experts, election officials and voter advocates. For more information, visit the voluntary voting system guidelines section at www.eac.gov to view comments and a draft of the next iteration of guidelines.

The EAC admitted the EMS 4.0 into its program on Aug. 15, 2007. iBeta Quality Assurance, an EAC-accredited test lab, began the testing process by submitting a draft test plan on Aug. 21, 2007. All versions of subsequent laboratory test plans and test reports of the EMS 4.0 are posted at www.eac.gov along with an outline describing each step of the certification process.

~snip~

http://www.eac.gov/News/press/eac-certifies-microvote-ems-4-0-voting-system/base_view

[valerief]

1. Certified with a Leap of Faith?

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/178-BBV-maker-admits-ITA-certification-a-sham.html

I-Team: Local jurisdictions conduct public tests of new voting equipment, but few members of the public actually attend. Why do you think that is?

Ries Jr.: I guess it's just a leap of faith and understanding that what we're doing is what we're presenting to the county. So there is a bit of uncertainty there. There has to be faith in their local election boards. It's one of those areas of a leap of faith. That you really do have to have a faith in your local jurisdiction, that they are conducting equitable elections in the best faith of the voters. The larger the jurisdiction, the more scrutiny should exist.

I-Team: How does the voter know that his or her vote is counted correctly?

Ries Jr.: It's one of those areas of a leap of faith. That you really do have to have a faith in your local jurisdiction, that they are conducting equitable elections in the best faith of the voters. The security for the voter, once again, is the acceptance of good judgment by a local board. Quite frankly it's very difficult to convince somebody how do I know my vote counted.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. Of all the machines, they had to certify this lousy one

awesome, the company ( I guess like all of them) got caught selling defective machines
to Pennsylvania years ago. Then those rejected machines were palmed off to Mecklenburg County NC
in the 80s.

Has Microvote cleaned up their machines?

Who knows.

And there are actually election directors in North Carolina who defended the Microvote,
saying that "these aren't computers".

<hair pulling out>

[Ellipsis]

3. greatest n/t

[Beam Me Up]

4. NIST

Isn't that the same federal bureaucracy that, seven years after the fact, finally provided a several thousand page document that purports to explain how a 47 story steel frame building, better known as http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=wtc7&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8">WTC7, can fall straight down in seven seconds -- that is, near free fall -- due to fire?

[Wilms]

5. ..