Substance. 
There is definitely more of that to our first year road-map
activities.  And we’ll clarify this
through diagrams soon.  In the mean time,
if you are technically adept or a Developer who may be interested in leaving
your mark on this imperative effort, then you should check out some overview
material on our Wiki here.

In addition
to the projects I described
on Monday, here are a couple of more substantive efforts on the drawing
board, and at least one of them is ready for immediate contribution from you,
if you are inclined to help make some history!

1. Ballot Design.  One of the
issues well documented and which we repeatedly hear in discussions with
those involved with voting administration, is the design of ballots.  Ballot design and usability is commonly
cited as a catalyst for confusion, under-votes, and other maladies of
election irregularities.  We are
under-taking a holistic examination of this critical component of the
voting process.  Certainly the
design of a ballot is something well within the prevue of states and their
precincts.  However, these precincts
tell us they need help.  And help is
on the way! 

We will have some very
exciting news to share regarding ballot design shortly that could help with these
very issues and (perhaps) take some steps toward ballot design standards.

2. Open Source Voter Registration Service.  One of the most important components in
the ecosystem of elections is the means by which voters are registered to
vote.  The National Commission on Federal Election
Reform (their works of which I will be writing much more about in
coming posts) and the effects of the National Voter
Registration Act (of 1993, NVRA) lay an excellent ground work for “best
practices.”  While nearly every
state now reports
having some sort of voter registration database, whether and to what
extent these systems amount to easy-to-use registration services, or
simply the existence of a digital dataset is being investigated.  Regardless, as an element of a
comprehensive system, we believe there is a need to advance a draft
standard for the design and specification of secure, trustworthy, and usable online voter registration
systems.

Again, this
is not all we have on the drawing board, however, between these two projects, the observance project, and election process mapping, there is plenty going
on at the OSDV Foundation for you to check out and get involved with making happen.  For more information, visit
the Lab.  If you’re interested in any of these items,
please get a hold of us!

Thanks!

GAM|out

Tags: Commentary, Technology