> dates for storage - see highlight below. Can you tell us what this is used for - is it for some internal processing or is it to support some
> legislative requirement or for some other purpose?
I write software for internet-based elections within private organizations. Sometimes those organizations ask me to display the results of the election within a certain timeframe. For example, a college may have an election of class presidents, and want the results to be revealed 2 days after voting is completed, and displayed for the following week, but then removed (or at least it is acceptable for it to be removed).
Election administration is difficult due to the dizzying variety of special rules and constraints imposed by the client organization. Customization is required in nearly all cases, and the above point is just one example. The architecture of EML is quite restrictive in nature, making it very difficult to conform to. It could, at least, make much more generous use of the "any" elements. I need EML to be a true language, and not just a rigid and steeply hierarchical data structure - that is, with a vocabulary and some rules of grammar for assembling simple elements into more complex structures that a standards committee will not be able to anticipate or keep up with. If this were the case, I think EML could be much more widely applicable. I think this is possible to achieve in an XML schema, but I think it would require a change in course.