Interoperability Public Working Group
Table of Contents	Useful Links
Interoperability Working Groups and Common Data Format Next VVSG Requirements Development CDF Overviews CDF Working Groups Current Status and Meetings Membership Email Lists This Topic Is Referenced By	GETTING STARTED Subscribe To Working Group Email Lists TWiki Quick Start Guide Working Group Quick Start Guide HELP Voting TWiki Help TWiki Users' Quick Reference Sheet (pdf) Webinars and Step-by-step Video Tutorials VVSG 2.0 DRAFT REQUIREMENTS version 2019-03-28 VVSG 2.0 draft requirements DEVELOP VVSG PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES VVSG 2.0 Principles and Guidelines LINKS Historical Election Process Work NIST Voting Website EAC Website

Interoperability Working Groups and Common Data Format

The Interoperability working groups are for the discussion and development of guidance for voting system interoperability, including common data format (CDF) modeling and schema development. The guidance will inform the development of requirements for the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG). The main activity underway is the development of CDF specifications for voting device imports and exports. Another activity is assisting with interoperability-related requirements development for the next VVSG.

Many election officials view voting system interoperability as necessary core function for future voting technology. This working group has as its objective the development of guidance and CDFs that will result in voting system interoperability, bringing with it various advantages, including:

• Increased efficiency in election operations.
• Cost savings to election operations and to cost of system integration.
• Greater choice of voting equipment in the marketplace.
• More automated generation of EAC survey data.
• Reduced cost of testing and component certification.
• Greater transparency to election data.

Joining a CDF Interoperability Working Group

Next VVSG Requirements Development

The working group has been assisting in the development of principles and guidelines and general interoperability requirements for the next VVSG.

The latest draft of the VVSG glossary is located here:

VVSG_2-Glossary-draft-18-5-14.docx

These definitions will in some cases need to be edited so as to be more clear, but they also need to be examined by election officials and others to ensure the definitions are accurate. If you have any changes or suggestions, please send email to john.wack@nist.gov.

The latest draft of general interoperability requirements is located here:

• VVSG2-General_interoperability_requirements-02-14-2018-v2.docx
  
• VVSG2-General_interoperability_requirements-02-14-2018-v2.pdf
  

• VVSG2-Requirements-by-voting-activity-03-05-2018.docx
  
• VVSG2-Requirements-by-voting-activity-03-05-2018.pdf
  

• TGDC_Recommendations-2012_-_By_Voting_Activity.pdf

CDF Overviews

Introduction to the CDF Project

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GitHub

CDF Working Groups

There are currently four CDF specifications under development as well as two additional efforts to 1) rigorously define voting variations such as RCV and (2) create business process models of election processes. Each of these activities has

• its own subgroup and mailing list, accessible via an individual twiki subgroup page,
• its own GitHub repository for storing specification materials, and
• an associated web-based version of the specification documentation that is linked to the GitHub repository.

The following table contains the appropriate links to the above items:

twiki Subgroup Page	GitHub Repository	Documentation
Cast Vote Records	usnistgov/CastVoteRecords	pages.nist.gov/CastVoteRecords
Election Event Logging	usnistgov/ElectionEventLogging	pages.nist.gov/ElectionEventLogging
Election Modeling	usnistgov/ElectionModeling	pages.nist.gov/ElectionModeling
Election Results Reporting	usnistgov/ElectionResultsReporting	pages.nist.gov/ElectionResultsReporting
Voter Records Interchange	usnistgov/VoterRecordsInterchange	pages.nist.gov/VoterRecordsInterchange
Voting Methods Models	usnistgov/VotingMethods	TBD

Current Status and Meetings

The NIST Voting System Interoperability Working Group meets by telecon generally the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at 3pm Eastern/12pm Pacific, whereas the subgroups may meet at other times (consult the specific twiki pages). The interoperability working group meetings generally include overviews of current work and discussion of broader issues such as overall scope of the CDF work. In addition, the meetings also may focus on interoperability-related requirements for the next VVSG.

Recent Meeting Minutes:

• May 15, 2018
• April 23, 2018
• February 08, 2018
  
• January 24, 2018
• December 14, 2017
• November 16, 2017
• November 02, 2017
• October 12, 2017
• September 29, 2017
• September 08, 2017
• August 25, 2017 and CDF_Status_Aug_2017.pdf
• July 14, 2017

Membership

• John Wack, NIST - chair
• InteroperabilityWorkingGroupMembershipList
  Membership in this group is open to all; please add yourself to the membership page and subscribe to the email list, following instructions at VVSG Working Group Lists page.

Email Lists

The primary Interoperability Working Group mailing list is:

• vvsg-interoperability@list.nist.gov – main mailing list for the working group

Additional interoperability subgroup email lists include:

• vvsg-cvr@list.nist.gov – for the cast vote records group
• ovr@list.nist.gov – for the voter records interchange/online voter registration group
• voting-methods@list.nist.gov – for the voting methods/models group
• election-modeling@list.nist.gov – for the election process modeling group
• election-results@list.nist.gov – for the election results reporting group

To join the list or find more information about list policies and related procedures, please visit the VVSG Working Group Lists page.

This Topic Is Referenced By

BallotDefinition
ConstituencyGroups
ElectionEventLogging
ElectionModeling
ElectionResultsReporting
FrequentlyAskedQuestions
FridayNov11
FridayOct14
FridayOct28
GeneralInfo
GitHub
HumanFactors
InteroperabilityWorkingGroupMembershipList
July28InteroperabilityTelecon
MeetingMinutesJuly142017
MembershipPage
OnLineVoterRegistration
OnlineVoterRegistration
ProcessTemplate
QuickReferenceGuide
SubGroupTemplate
TGDCCharter
TopicalDiscussions
VVSGPrinciplesAndGuidelines
VoterRegistrationUseCase
VotingMethodsModels
VotingPortalHelp
VotingTwikiUI
WebStatistics
WhatIsGitHub
WhyIsACDFNeeded
WorkingGroupLists
WorkingGroupQuickStartGuide