Verification — Election Security Glossary

Verification in election administration covers the procedures that confirm identity, eligibility, ballot integrity, and outcome accuracy. The category includes voter identification at the polls, signature verification for mail ballots, ballot tracking systems, post-election audits, and the multiple layers of checking that occur between a voter casting a ballot and a result being certified.

Why this category matters for election security is that verification is the load-bearing discipline. Every other control in election administration (registration, balloting, tabulation, results) rests on the assumption that the inputs and outputs can be trusted. Verification is the work of making that assumption explicit and testable.

In a federalized system like the United States, verification requirements vary by state. Some require photo ID at the polls. Some accept non-photo identification. Some accept a voter's sworn statement of identity without documentary support. Each approach has its own tradeoffs between accessibility and security, and each involves verification procedures that the terminology here describes.

The terminology in this category covers the chain of verification procedures from voter identity to outcome accuracy. The concepts here are procedural. They describe the work of confirming that what is supposed to be true is actually true.