NIST Draft Voting System Test Suites for the 2005 VVSG revision

The draft test suites are now open for public review and comment. NIST is interested in and greatly appreciates comments from individuals who can review the test suites and provide specific feedback. The test suites are highly technical in nature and assume some knowledge of testing, voting standards, and many other voting system-related issues. For readers who are more interested in summary and background information about voting system testing and the test suites, please consult the pages located at

http://vote.nist.gov/SystemTesting.htm.

General comments about the test suites can also be sent to

voting@nist.gov.

Overview for Reviewers

The test suites are written for a subset of the voting system requirements in the “Proposed Draft Revisions to 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG v.1.1).” This document has been updated primarily with requirements taken from the VVSG Recommendations to the EAC, thus the test suites correspond directly to those requirements and only those requirements -- the test suites do not address any of the existing requirements in the 2005 VVSG. The test suites address subsets of the new requirements such as usability and accessibility, security, and core requirements and testing.

General Reviewing Guidelines

Please send comments on the test suites by October 1, 2009. You may provide comments directly in email and/or send attachments in MS-Word or PDF. If you wish, you may also embed your comments within the PDF documentation using the instructions provided here. In general, please tell us the features you like and provide us with comments, corrections, and suggestions on how to improve the test suites.

Please provide the following items:

• Test suite version number (found in the test suite documentation)
• Your name and affiliation (include contact information if desired)
• Identification of the particular tests and requirements in the 2005 VVSG revision for which your comment applies
• If including suggestions for changes to the tests, a description of the suggested change including an adequate justification for the change, or a draft replacement for the test including the justification and any other necessary documentation or commentary
  

All comments will be considered. After all comments have been received and incorporated into the test suites, a new version of test suites will be posted on the NIST website.

Test Suites for the 2005 VVSG revision

The pages below contain links to the test suites, including test suite-specific notes to readers/reviewers and specific email addresses for reviewer comments.

• Core Requirements:
  
  • Core Requirements Test Suite
    • Votetest Test Suite
    • Operating Temperature and Humidity Test Suite
      
      
• Human Factors:
  • Usability and Accessibility Test Suite
  • Modified CIF Template for Voting System Test Laboratories
  • Guidelines on how to complete the Modified CIF Template for Voting System Manufacturers
    
    
• Security:
  • Security Test Suite