About Election
Security Glossary
The authoritative reference for election security terminology, providing comprehensive definitions for 6,071 terms across 32 live categories and 31 named sources.
Election security is a complex field requiring precise terminology and shared understanding across stakeholders. The Election Security Glossary serves as the definitive resource for election officials, cybersecurity professionals, researchers, journalists, and concerned citizens who need accurate, source-backed definitions of critical terms.
Rather than picking a single definition, we show how institutions differ and flag where consensus breaks down. Terminology is where policy, procurement, and litigation meet; the precise wording matters, and so does knowing who is doing the wording.
6,071 terms across 32 categories
Spanning cybersecurity, voting systems, election administration, legal & policy, auditing & verification, and more.
KEY FEATURES
- 6,071 professionally sourced definitions
- 5,436 verified multi-source terms
- 32 active glossary categories
- 31 named source references
- Cross-referenced related terms on every entry
- Source attribution on every term page
Where the definitions come from
Every term is traced to published documents from named institutions: federal agencies, standards bodies, international organizations, and academic election-science programs. A source qualifies only if it publishes durable, citable documentation; we do not source definitions from news coverage, vendor marketing, or unattributed wikis.
The index is reviewed weekly. New terms, revised institutional language, and retired usages are logged with the date they were last checked.
Authoritative sources
All definitions are sourced from authoritative references including:
- Electronic Voting Glossary
- The Cyber Glossary
- EAC Glossary of Terms
- Committee on National Security Systems Glossary CNSSI 4009-2015
- NICCS Glossary
- And 26 additional named sources
Each definition includes clear source attribution with links to original documents where available.
The verification badge system
Every term page carries one of four badges, describing how closely our sources agree.
Most or all cited sources agree on scope and substance.
Minor variation in scope or phrasing, with no substantive conflict.
Sources define the term meaningfully differently.
Sources meaningfully disagree — read the comparison.
Per-source tags
In addition to the term-level consensus, each source on a term page carries its own badge describing how that source relates to the cluster's canonical reading.
This source's text closely matches the canonical definition (similarity ≥ 0.85).
This source agrees with the cluster but in different wording (similarity 0.5–0.85).
This is the only source for the term — no comparison possible.
This source was flagged as diverging from the cluster's canonical reading.
We don't blend definitions
Merging several institutions' language into one smooth paragraph produces a definition no institution actually holds. Instead, each term leads with a primary definition, the clearest, most widely-held formulation, attributed to its source, followed by a Compare across sources view where the alternatives sit side by side with their own attribution.
Where sources genuinely disagree, we say so rather than quietly choosing a winner. A Differs from consensus callout explains the nature of the gap, most often the difference between a term that is universal and one that is domain-scoped.
A worked example: Vote by Mail
NIST, the EAC, and CISA apply the term to any election model where ballots are mailed out and returned outside a polling place. The Department of Defense scopes it narrowly to UOCAVA absentee voting for service members and overseas citizens. Both usages are correct in context, so we flag DoD as domain-scoped rather than wrong, and keep the broader definition primary.
See the term pageSuggest a correction
Found a definition that has drifted from its source, a missing institution, or a term we don't carry yet? Corrections are reviewed in the weekly pass, and accepted changes are logged on the term page.
Usage & attribution
ESG entries may be quoted and reused with attribution. Every term page carries a ready-made citation in APA, MLA, BibTeX, and permanent-URL form. Definitions quoted from an institution should be attributed to that institution, not to ESG.
Explore the glossary
6,071 terms, each traced to its source. New entries and revisions every week.