Software — Election Security Glossary

Election software is the code that runs voter registration systems, vote-capture devices, tabulation engines, results-reporting portals, and the back-office tools election administrators use every day. It is the invisible layer of election administration: rarely seen by voters, but on which every outcome ultimately depends.

Why this category matters for election security is that software defects, vulnerabilities, and deliberate tampering can all produce incorrect results without leaving obvious traces. A bug in vote-counting code might miscount by a small percentage and never be caught. A deliberately introduced backdoor might activate only under specific conditions. Defending against these risks requires a combination of secure development practices, code review, independent testing, and post-deployment monitoring.

The federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines establish requirements for the software embedded in voting systems. State-level testing, when it exists, can add further requirements. But most election software is not in voting machines at all. It is in the voter registration database, the office computer, the county website, and the back-end reporting system. Each of these has its own update cycle, its own threat model, and its own security posture.

The terminology in this category covers both the specific software concerns of voting systems and the broader software security vocabulary that election offices must adopt. The concepts here are drawn from software engineering, cybersecurity, and election administration.