To: John Borras <johnaborras@yahoo.co.uk>; David RR Webber (XML) <david@drrw.info>
Cc: mary.mcrae@oasis-open.org; James Bryce Clark <jamie.clark@oasis-open.org>; Eduardo.Gutentag@Sun.COM; Dee Schur <dee.schur@oasis-open.org>; Peter Roden <peter.roden@oasis-open.org>; Scott McGrath <scott.mcgrath@oasis-open.org>
John, David,
Thanks for the live email dialog and support over the past few days while I
was preparing and attending the EAC TGDC meeting. Below is the summary email I
sent to the TGDC members and NIST staff who are on the Security & Transparency
Subcommittee and on the Core Requirements & Testing Subcommittee.
I did also suggest to Lynne Rosenthal and a few others on the NIST staff that
maybe later in 2007, it would be good to try to organize an EML
interoperability demo. My guess is that this would likely have to be in the
2nd half of the year (after NIST submits the VVSG report to EAC on 31 July
2007). So, if there is an appropriate conference (maybe NASED or NASCIO)
where we could organize something either by ourselves or jointly with NIST and
IEEE; it might be something worth considering and beginning planning, as these
types of government conferences lock in their speakers and events far
in
advance.
Let me know how OASIS staff can continue to support your efforts.
--
Patrick Gannon
-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Gannon [mailto:patrick.gannon@oasis-open.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 4:02 PM
To: 'crt_members@nist.gov'; 'sts_members@nist.gov'
Cc: Lynne Rosenthal (lynne.rosenthal@nist.gov)
Subject: Update on EML and Software Independence
STS & CRT Members,
Based on the lively discussions we had at this weeks TGDC meeting, I felt I
should pass along a document prepared by the members of the OASIS Election &
Voter Services committee.
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/election/These items relate to our discussion on Software Independence,
Interoperability, Security and Testing.
The attached document discusses how the use of the Election Markup Language
(EML) can be
used as the mechanism to exchange ballot data between a voting
machine (DRE) and a printer using XML. Please keep in mind that the scope of
EML includes XML vocabulary and transactions all the way from voter
registration information through ballot record data and to vote counting data
formats.
You may also want to read the write-up on the use of EML in a recent local
election in the Flanders region of Belgium. This is also available from the
committee website noted above (see: EML used in Flanders Local Elections), or
I can send the 2MB file to any of you.
There is also a link to an open source project that is implementing EML.
http://emlvoting.orgDuring the dialog about the NIST SI report by members of the OASIS E&VS TC, I
received a note from this member of the committee (see below). Peter M
Zelechoski is also Chairman of the
IEEE P1622. So, we now have the OASIS TC
working with an effective liaison with the IEEE voting equipment efforts.
So with this active coordination by the different standards organizations,
with open source software implementations under way, with EML v4 approved as
an OASIS Standard; I would say that is ready for serious evaluation and
recommendation by NIST as one of the methods to accomplish goals related to
SI, security, transparency, system reliability, and interoperability.
While 2 NIST staff are listed as Observers on the E&VS TC, other NIST staff
can readily sign up as members of the OASIS EV&S. As a member, you can post
questions and engage in dialog with other knowledgeable members of this
committee. The mechanism for joining the committee is explained after you
click on the "Join This TC" button, which you find just under the TC name on
the website referenced in the first paragraph of this
email. The process for
joining the TC as a member will also involve an automated approval cycle
requiring the NIST primary representative (Lynne Rosenthal) to OK the join
request as a member. (No approval needed for joining as an Observer.)
Those of you on the STS or CRT subcommittees who are not NIST staff, or if
your company is not an OASIS member, will still find all of this information
along with public archives of committee email lists and all committee
documents available to you.
Again, it was good to see you all again this week. Thanks to the NIST staff
for all of the hard work.
I look forward to Ron and Dan organizing a joint STS & CRT committee call so
some of these related joint issues can be discussed.
Best regards,
--
Patrick Gannon
President & CEO
OASIS
+1.978.667.5115 x201 - office
+1.978.761.3546 -
mobile
Skype: pgannon
www.oasis-open.org
OASIS Symposium:
"eBusiness and Open Standards:
Understanding the Facts, Fiction, and Future"
15-18 April 2007 San Diego, CA USA
http://www.oasis-open.org/events/symposium/------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
From: Zelechoski, Peter [mailto:pzelechoski@essvote.com]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 11:29 AM
To: 'patrick.gannon@oasis-open.org'
Cc: 'election-services@lists.oasis-open.org'; 'mary.mcrae@oasis-open.org';
'John Borras'; 'david@drrw.info'
Subject: RE: [election-services] FYI: BREAKING: NATIONAL STANDARDS INSTITUTE
RECOMMENDS SCRAPPING TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING SYSTEMS!
Patrick -
I am the working group chairman for the IEEE voting systems effort on
electronic data interchange (P1622). I would be happy to answer any
questions
you might have. Steve Berger is the IEEE sponsor lead for my group and he is
on the TGDC.
On your second question, there are two primary DRE deployments in the US. My
company sells one of those. Depending on the state/county where it is
deployed, the devices may be used with voter verifiable paper output or
without. The choice is made by the state/county, based on the local laws. We
do not support EML yet but we are heading in that direction.
- Peter
Peter M Zelechoski, CISSP, MBA-TM
Chairman IEEE P1622
Election Systems & Software
pzelechoski@essvote.com
402-970-1242