E-voting: Laws, lingo and technologies

02.11.2006
AVVPAT

Accessible voter-verified paper audit trails, sometimes called the Mercuri method after researcher and e-voting expert , who first mapped the system.

Ballot-marking device

Ballot-marking devices are essentially electronic pencils. Such a device simply produces a printed paper ballot based on voter inputs; no electronic record is kept. Designed to serve voters with disabilities, ballot-marking devices usually offer a variety of inputs: touch screens, keyboards, foot paddles and even sip-and-puff functionality. Audio is usually provided for the vision-impaired.

BDF

Ballot definition file; the code that tells the machine how to interpret whatever the voter's doing out there. Some researchers believe that BDFs could be a major weakness in e-voting systems, since there's no comprehensive system for checking the code or the machines' behaviors.