N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 9 § 6209.1

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 19, May 8, 2024

Section 6209.1 - Definitions

The terms used in this Part shall have the significance herein defined unless another meaning is clearly apparent in language or content.

(a) Acceptance test means a test conducted by the county board and the State Board, to demonstrate that each voting system delivered, when installed in the user's environment, meets all functional requirements and contains exactly the same components as the voting system of that type, which received certification from New York State, including but not limited to all hardware, programming (whether in the form of software, firmware, or any other kind), all files, all file system hierarchies, all operating system parts, all off-the-shelf hardware and programming parts and any other components.

(b) Audio voting feature means a device that allows blind or visually-impaired persons, or persons with limited reach and/or hand dexterity, the ability to cast their vote.

(c) Auxiliary components means any device, materials or equipment which is used to give assistance or aid to the actual voting device but is not a permanent or enclosed part of the voting device.

(d) Ballot configuration (layout) means the positioning on and/or linkage within the ballot (whether on a DRE or other display screen, or on paper), of all political party names and emblems, and names and emblems of all independent bodies, office titles, ballot proposals, and candidate names, and spaces for write-in candidates, in accordance with the requirements of the Election Law as to order and rotation.

(e) Calibration test means a test prepared and conducted to determine and/or verify that the correct sensitive areas of a voting system, and their level of sensitivity function on an ongoing basis in the same manner as the certified system.

(f) Canvass means a compilation of election returns and validation of the outcome that forms the basis of the official results by political subdivision.

(g) Central count paper-based system means a voting system that uses an optical scan technology to record and tabulate votes from multiple election districts at a county board office, including all absentee, emergency, affidavit and other such paper ballots.

(h) County board means a county's Board of Elections, including the Board of Elections in the City of New York.

(i) DRE means a direct recording electronic voting system in which, through a touch-screen, push-button, or other electronic mechanism, a vote is immediately recorded onto electronic media, by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical or electro-optical components, or an ultrasonic, capacitative or other touch-screen, which is activated by the voter. Styles include bubble switch ballot overlay and touch-screen-style machines.

(j) Election assistance commission (EAC) is the commission established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which serves as a national clearinghouse for information and the review of procedures with respect to the administration of Federal elections.

(k) Election configuration means the file or files created by the election management software including but not limited to the following data used to program polling place and central count voting systems: definition of jurisdictional information (e.g., counties, local legislative, congressional or election districts), both electronic and paper ballot content and artwork (e.g., ballot text, voting positions), definition of races (e.g., elected offices, candidates, number to vote for, propositions, or other types that control voting in other races on the ballot, definition of voter groups (e.g., by party, absentee, non-absentee), ballot styles, linkage of candidates to their respective parties and races, linkage of races to their respective jurisdictions, linkage of ballot text to database labels to produce results reports, and allocation of trans-district vote tallies to their constituent districts for reporting purposes.

(l) Election management software (EMS) means the software used by the voting system to describe ballot layout, collect and report election results, and maintain audit trails.

(m) Environmental conditions means the effect of natural environmental conditions such as: temperature, humidity, dust and induced environmental conditions such as handling, storage or transportation which may affect the operation of the system and/or equipment.

(n) Escrow account means an account and/or a secure facility held by a third party, which shall be approved by the State Board, for the purpose of taking custody of all materials required to be put in escrow by statute or by these voting system standards.

(o) Firmware means a computer program stored in read-only memory (either programmable or non-programmable), that becomes a permanent part of the computing device that is not subject to change or modification without review by the State Board.

(p) Hardware means the actual voting or ballot counting device.

(q) Header card (or header sheet) means a marksense card or sheet upon which appears printed information used to identify a particular batch of ballots, usually those for a single election district. It is placed at the beginning of the batch for vote tabulation to ensure that the votes cast on those ballots are correctly attributed. Cards placed at the end of a particular batch of ballots are called end cards.

(r) Maintenance log means a written and/or electronic record which contains all information relating to performance of scheduled and non-scheduled maintenance on a voting system, all service visits performed by the vendor or manufacturer, and other maintenance or service performed by any other provider of service, including county and State Board employees.

(s) Marksense means a system by which votes are recorded by means of marks made in voting response fields designated on one or both faces of a ballot or ballot cards. Marksense systems may use an optical scanner or similar sensor to read the ballots. Also known as optical scan.

(t) Modification means any change in the software, firmware or hardware, data storage location of files, or any other component of the voting system, and shall require re-examination of certified system or equipment by the State Board.

(u) Optical scan voting system means a voting system in which a voter records his or her vote by placing a mark in a designated voting response field on a paper ballot or card, which is read and tabulated using optical-scan technology or a marksense system that reads the paper ballot or card by scanning the ballot and interpreting the contents. Styles include precinct-based and central-count paper-based systems.

(v) Operational manual means a manual of all procedures involved in every phase of the operation and use of the voting system by board of elections personnel, including but not limited to unpacking and acceptance testing, storing, installing all programming, operations testing, preparing for an election, servicing and maintaining, trouble-shooting and repairing, packing and shipping to poll sites, and returning to the county board's facilities, and including all operational procedures for the set-up of the ballot, opening of the polls, use for voting, closing the polls, and canvassing the count.

(w) Paper-based voting systems means any electronic or computerized ballot counting system or equipment which tabulates and reports votes cast on paper ballots.

(x) Pneumatic switch means a device which allows persons with certain disabilities the ability to cast their vote.

(y) Pre-qualification test means a predetermined set of tests of the total voting system throughout the election process including votes and vote totals prepared by the State Board. Such votes shall be entered into the voting system in the same manner as they will be entered by voters during an election. If a voting system offers several methods for votes to be entered, such as touch-screen, push-button, or other electronic mechanism, a key pad and/or pneumatic switch for voters with disabilities, or alternate language displays, then the pre-determined set of votes shall be entered separately using each method and language display. The results of the casting of said votes and all voting system logs shall be extracted from the system as though during normal use in an election, and the results and logs shall be compared to the predetermined results of the test votes and vote totals prepared by the State Board.

(z) Printout means the printed copy of zero totals, candidate names and offices and other information produced by the voting equipment prior to the official opening of the polls and the tabulation of votes cast for each candidate and question, the names of candidates and the offices for each candidate and other information provided after the official closing of the polls.

(aa) Resident vote tabulation means the manufacturer's internal firmware which shall permanently reside on the voting system's central processing unit, registering, accumulating, and storing votes and ballot images.

(ab) Resident memory means the internal memory of the voting system that stores election results and ballot images but is prohibited from storing executable code on removable media.

(ac) Software means any programming instructions used by the vote counting system, including but not limited to system programs and application programs. System programs include but are not limited to the operating system, control programs, communication programs, database managers, and device drivers. Application programs include but are not limited to, any program that processes the data.

(ad) Source code means the computer program in its original form, as written by the programmer. Source code is not executed by the computer directly, but is converted into machine language by compilers, assemblers and interpreters.

(ae) State Board means the New York State Board of Elections.

(af) Tactile discernible controls means a voting feature which allows persons with limited reach and/or hand dexterity, the ability to cast their vote, for example: raised buttons of different shapes and colors, large or raised numbers or letters, and light pressure switches.

(ag) Test deck means a pre-audited group of ballots prepared for each election. The ballots are voted with a pre-determined number of valid votes for each candidate, each write-in position, and each voting option on every proposal that appears on the ballot as certified by the county board. The deck includes one or more ballots that have been improperly voted, or which are voted in excess of the number allowed by law, and one or more ballots on which no votes are cast, in order to test the ability of the system to recognize and/or notify of an under or overvote. It also includes one or more ballots on which two or more votes are cast for a candidate whose name appears on the ballot more than once for the same office in order to test the ability of the system to count only the first of such votes for the candidate. If there is more than one ballot style for an election, a separate test deck is created for each ballot style.

(ah) Testing laboratory means a certified private or public laboratory used to perform tests on the voting systems and related equipment.

(ai) Vendor shall include any manufacturer, company or individual who seeks to sell voting systems and/or services for such systems in New York State.

(aj) Voting position means the specific voting response area on the face of the displayed ballot where a selection is made for a candidate or proposal.

(1) Ballot position means the area on the ballot or ballot display occupied by one candidate or position on an issue, including the area devoted to the candidate name or position on the issue and the sensitive area, as defined immediately below.

(2) Sensitive area means the area on the ballot or ballot display which may be pressed, touched, or marked in order to cast a vote which, in some cases, may be the entire position, while in other cases it may be limited to the voting target (as defined immediately below) on a paper ballot or push button on a full-face DRE machine.

(3) Voting target means the area of a paper ballot which the voter is asked to mark in order to cast a vote; typically an oval, square or a fragmented arrow.

(ak) Voting system means the total combination of mechanical, electro-mechanical, or electronic equipment, and any ancillary equipment and all software, firmware, and documentation required to program, control, and support the equipment, all of which is used to define ballots, cast and count votes, report and/or display election results, and maintain and produce any audit trail information.

(al) Voting system supporting software means the vendor-supplied software used to configure and control the election day tabulation and accumulation of election results.

(am) VVPAT means a voter verifiable paper audit trail.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 § 6209.1