Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC)
Human Factors and Privacy Subcommittee (HFP)*
May 11, 2007
Draft Minutes

AGENDA

1. Administrative Updates (Allan Eustis)
2. Discussion of further edits of Usability and Accessibility VVSG chapter; version for plenary meeting.
3. Other issues

Attendees: Alexis Scott-Morrison, Alice Miller, Allan Eustis, David Baquis (U.S. Access Board), John Cugini, John Wack, Mat Masterson (EAC), Nelson Hastings, Sharon Laskowski, Wendy Havens, Whitney Quesenbery

Administrative Updates (Allan Eustis/John Wack) :

  • Agenda is up and sent out with CDs to TGDC, along with a copy of the current draft VVSG. Agenda is likely to change - including presentations by EAC and we are trying to finish meeting by lunchtime on day 2.
  • The draft VVSG will also probably change; the latest version will be available at meeting and on web site in advance. John is trying to make the document as usable as possible; half of the material has been incorporate into the document template.
  • There will be an informal reception before plenary on Sunday evening- 6 pm to 8 pm.
  • HFP will continue to have teleconferences after plenary - still Friday's at 11:00 a.m.

Review of Latest Draft of Usability and Accessibility Chapter (John Cugini):

Changed title of chapter to include "Privacy".

The first couple of notes in the draft refer to the benchmarks to be added and refer to the CIFs which are part of the testing.

Vendor Testing: Added new wording for usability testing by vendor, splitting the requirement into two. The HFP chapter requires testing be done; it is cross-referenced with Documentation Section for actual reporting requirement. All requirements for documentation and materials supplied by vendor are in the technical data package (vol. 4)

Privacy: This section was moved up in the chapter and a number of things were added. Big strategy in this section was to clarify that the requirements written here also applied to the voter verification process -- instead of pulling that out as a separate chapter. [NOTE: We're treating the whole process/voting session as one event instead of breaking it into stages.] There was a statement added for privacy when transporting ballots was necessary, e.g., privacy sleeve needs to be used.

Minimum Font Size: This was added to not only include requirements for voters but poll workers as well.

1.2.5.G. This was changed to include not only legibility of paper ballots but verification records as well. There was discussion on how to best write this: broaden it, should vs. shall, include options. John Cugini to draft requirement making this a shall and offering three options to meet requirement: system will allow for at least two font choices, system will provide magnifier, or system shall provide compatibility for a magnifier to be added and include list of compatible magnifiers. Sharon will present at TGDC meeting our current language and suggest this better alternative language.

1.2.5.H. Contrast ratio. Included poll workers.

1.2.7.A. General Support for Alternative Language. Add to include voter verification. Alexis expressed concern over being able to count verification records if they were in alternative language, are they bilingual? Should we add a requirement to make them be? Mat Masterson to check and see if this is required someplace else.

1.3.1. General Accessibility Requirement- Added two new requirements to support end-to-end testing.

1.3.1.A.1. Added comment to include paper records as well.

1.3.1.B. Need to add comment in the discussion field that the first page of the instructions that allow you to choose a larger font needs to be dealt with as well - currently that page is in small font.

1.3.1.C. Reworded to cover all disabilities so that all voters have similar opportunity for verification. Originally we thought all acc-VS would be electronic, but with paper verification for SI, this has caused issues. This requirement includes a sub-requirement for a readback mechanism for blind voters.

[NOTE: We are not writing requirements that limit technology and require specific solutions limiting what is available to officials.]

1.3.3.E; Ballot submission and vote verification- Added the vote verification clause. This requirement is a goal requirement but has no mechanism for achieving it.

Discussion of Benchmark Timeline (Sharon Laskowski):

  • 100 people have participated in testing. Another 50 are participating as sample voters over the weekend.
  • Beginning of June: Conduct field tests across 4 machines to see where to set final benchmarks.
  • June 1: HFP draft due (minus benchmarks)
  • May 15: Raw data in and analysis done from 3 tests (analysis has been getting repeatability in its testing)
  • May 25: Short description of statistics, looking at assumptions of stats and confidence levels
  • May 25: Sharon and John Cugini to look at way to count errors and compute tentative benchmarks
  • June 8: Additional data from last set of test. After that working on final benchmarks and methodology.
  • June 17: Show results to HFP and discuss
  • June 25: Show results to TGDC and discuss
  • July 1: Final draft edits due

OTHER:

  • July 1 is the HFP deadline to get material in. Final draft goes to EAC on July 31.
  • Next Steps will be discussed at the May plenary meeting.
  • We will need to work on a matrix of changes to provide both to the public and EAC for review. These include big changes/additions to help the review process. CRT has done something like this in their introductory section. HFP should look at to see if it's a template that can be followed.

Meeting adjourned at 12:10 p.m.

Our next telecon is scheduled for: Friday, May 18, 2007 at 11 AM ET

[* Pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the TGDC is charged with directing NIST in performing voting systems research so that the TGDC can fulfill its role of recommending technical standards for voting equipment to the EAC. This teleconference discussion serves the purposes of the HFP subcommittee of the TGDC to direct NIST staff and coordinate its voting-related research relevant to the VVSG 2007. Discussions on this telecon are preliminary and do not necessarily reflect the views of NIST or the TGDC.]

 

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