[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]
Subject: RE: [election-services] EML BUSINESS CASE
John, I agree with David's point about formatting. It needs white space between paragraphs. I always use a paragraph style in Word that leaves a 6pt gap. I think an executive summary would help. About half a page, but this is all I would put on the front page. In the Introduction the phrase "The implementation of electronic voting would allow increased access to the voting process for millions of potential voters" seems rather out of date now. Perhaps replace "would allow" with "allows" and change the focus from e-voting being good to EML making e-voting work better. Later parts in this paragraph need to change to match, but the following paragraph illustrates exactly what I mean. Administrations already want e-voting, the problem is that it is seen to have problems, and these problems stem from the use of proprietary systems. Don't forget that EML is about more than e-voting. I would stress in the Introduction that it can be (and is being) used for electoral registration and can be used for e-counting in paper-based elections. Peter Brown has contributed before on how useful it would be if a standard such as EML were used to communicate counts in European elections. In the Benefits of EML section, we concentrate on the "convenience" aspects for purchasers and suppliers. Could David supply more on how EML supports security and trustworthiness? Ultimately, these are the major benefits. The current list was made before we knew that current proprietary systems just can't be trusted. This section also needs reformatting. Do we need the terminology section in this document? I think the Trustworthy Elections section is the key. There is a section near the end "The responsibility of providing trustworthy elections must be shared by all involved including Election Managers, Governments and Suppliers; democracy relies on it. Developments like EML make that provision possible whether it is for a traditional or e-enabled election." I think we need to say *how* EML does that when compared to proprietary solutions. It is good to have a SWOT analysis, but again, it is comparing e-voting to paper, not EML to proprietary solutions. If we can agree on the key points, I think that between us we could halve the size of the document and make it much more focussed. As a start: EML ... ... makes e-voting more trustworthy. How? ... is an open standard. How does that help? ... allows "mix and match" of equipment. ... reduces the need for suppliers to customise equipment between administrations ... provides common interfaces from different equipment suppliers (e.g. UK CORE project). ... can be used for any electronic part of the election process: registration, e-voting, communication of count. Perhaps we should start with the SWOT, then work around this. I'll think about that later today or on Friday. Regards Paul -----Original Message----- From: John Borras [mailto:johnaborras@yahoo.co.uk] Sent: 28 November 2006 11:57 To: EML TC Subject: [election-services] EML BUSINESS CASE You may remember that I pushed out a draft of this document earlier this year and asked for comments. None were received. But having been to the Council of Europe meeting last week, during which EML was re-affirmed as the recommended standard to be used by Member States, there is a need to get this published as soon as possible. There are still many mis-conceptions about EML, particularly about localising it, and many countries haven't started the e-voting journey yet and need some help and education about where and how to start. I believe this document will serve these purposes very well. So could I have any comments on the latest draft, which is on the TC website in the Related Documents folder, in the next few days please. I will take silence as acceptance. Regards John M. +44 (0)7976 157745 Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]