Requirements – draft 11/9

Principle 6
VOTER PRIVACY
Voters can mark, verify, and cast their ballot privately and independently.

6.1 - The voting process preserves the privacy of the voter’s interaction with the ballot, modes of voting, and vote selections.

Requirements

6.1-A – Preserving voter privacy

Voter privacy must be preserved during the entire voting session including ballot activation, voting, verifying, and casting ballot selections.

(Add icon) HAVA

Discussion
This requirement may involve different approaches for electronic and paper interfaces.
In both cases, appropriate shielding of the voting station is important -- for example, privacy screens for the voting stations.

When a paper record with ballot information needs to be transported by the voter, devices such as privacy sleeves may be necessary. This requirement applies to all records with information on votes (such as a vote verification record) even if that record is not itself a ballot.

Status: Revised

Updated:Oct. 28, 2017

VVSG 1.1:7.8.5.a, 3.2..3.1.b

Gap notes:Combine requirement from two different sections of VVSG 1.1

6.1-B –Warnings

The voting system must issue all warnings in a way that preserves the privacy of the voter and the confidentiality of the ballot.

(add icon) HAVA

Discussion
HAVA 301 (a)(1)(C) mandates that the voting system notifies the voter of an attempted overvote in a way that preserves the privacy of the voter and the confidentiality of the ballot. This requirement addresses that mandate.

Status: In progress

Updated:Oct. 18, 2017

VVSG 1.1:3.2.3.1.d

Gap notes:None

6.1-C –Enabling or disabling output

The voting system must make it possible for the voter to independently enable or disable either the audio or the video output and be notified of the change, resulting in a video-only or audio-only presentation.

WCAG 2.0/Section 508

Discussion

This notification of change can be in a variety of ways including beep or voice notification.

It must be possible to enable or disable either the audio or video output without human assistance.

Status: Revised

Updated:Oct. 24, 2017

VVSG 1.1:3.3.2.c.i

Gap notes:Update: added “enable”

Add notification of change in modality (wording should NOT specify how, e.g., beep, voice

6.1.D – Audio privacy

Audio during the voting session must be audible only to the voter.

WCAG 2.0/Section 508

Discussion

Voters who are hard of hearing but need to use an audio interface may also need to increase the volume of the audio. Such situations require headphones or other devices (such as a hearing loop) with low sound leakage so the contents of the audio cannot be overheard and understood by others.

Voters who are hard of hearing can share audio interfaces with their designated assistants.

Status: Revised

Updated:Oct. 24, 2017

VVSG 1.1:3.2.3.1.c

Gap notes:

X –Secrecy of ballot content – Move to Principle 10 Ballot Secrecy

The voting system must prevent others from learning the contents of a ballot.

Discussion
The voting system itself provides no means by which others can learn how one has voted. Of course, voters could simply tell someone else for whom they voted, but the system provides no evidence for such statements, and therefore voters cannot be forced into providing such evidence. Whether the configuration of the voting system protects privacy may depend on proper setup.

For vote verification records systems that use separate pieces of paper for the record, this can be accomplished in various ways including shuffling the order of the records or other methods to separate the order of stored records.

Status: Revised

Updated:Oct. 30, 2017

VVSG 1.1:3.2.3.1.a, 7.8.5.d

Gap notes:Moves to Principle 10 – Ballot Secrecy