(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- Recommendations for new requirements to make future voting systems in the United States more “secure, reliable, and easier for all voters to use” have been submitted by an advisory panel to the Election Assistance Commission.

The recommendations are a rewrite of similar guidelines issued in 2005 by the Technical Guidelines Development Committee, an advisory panel established along with the EAC by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The TGDC is chaired by the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology with technical support provided by NIST staff.

The EAC is expected to conduct public reviews of the TGDC recommendations, consider comments, and issue a final version, most likely in 2009. Voting systems will be required to meet the final guidelines to receive federal certification.

Key recommendations made by the TGDC to the EAC include guidelines that

 …