NIST Common Data Format Workshop

1
NIST Common Data Format Workshop

• Lowell Finley
• Deputy Secretary of State
• Voting Systems Technology and Policy
• California Secretary of State Debra Bowen

2
Two warnings about what follows

• I am not a techie
• I am a lawyer

3
What I wish for in acommon data layer

• Integrity
• Transparency
• Auditability
• Works from cradle to cryogenic capsule

4
Integrity

• Accurate
• Tamper resistant
• Tamper evident

5
Transparency

• Horizontally
• Data transfer within a device or function
• Vertically
• Date transfer between functions
• Voter registration to pollbook
• Precinct tabulator to central tabulator
• Central tally to results reporting module
• Reporting module to press, public, scholars

6
Auditability

• At each point of transfer
• By different potential auditors
• Elections officials
• Courts
• Public
• Scholars

7
From cradle to . . .

• Voter registration
• Candidate registration
• Precincting
• Ballot definition
• Voting (in all forms) and tallying functions
• Results reporting
• Auditing

8
. . . Walt's frozen head

• Permanent storage of all available data from
  every election
• Not a morbid wish
• Not a pipe dream
• Intact data available when we need to defrost it

9
Three Take Aways

• No technical training
• Transparency at multiple stages
• Walt's cryogenic capsule