The National Institute of Standards and Technology is now accepting applications from laboratories interested in becoming accredited to a new voting system testing program. The Voting System Testing program has been established as part of the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program. NIST established the program at the request of the Election Assistance Commission to fulfill the requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. NIST supports the EAC as chair of the Technical Guidelines Development Committee, which makes recommendations to the EAC on standards and guidelines related to voting machines.

The specific technical and administrative requirements for the program are included in NIST’s handbook, NVLAP Voting System Testing. General accreditation requirements are included in another NIST handbook, NVLAP Procedures and General Requirements. The evaluation of the initial group of accreditation applications will begin in mid-September. Interested laboratories must submit their applications and fees by Aug. 16.

The National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program provides third-party accreditation to testing and calibration laboratories. Its programs are established in response to congressional mandates or administrative actions by the federal government or from requests by private-sector organizations. For more information, visit www.ansi.org.

 …