Category Overview

Voting Systems — Election Security Glossary

1,792 election security terms in the Voting Systems category, with definitions sourced from NIST, CISA, EAC, and 30+ authoritative documents.

Browse all 1,792 terms in Voting Systems

General City Election

A for city offices. Nev. Rev. Stat.

Medium consensus1 source

General Custodian

A statutory position in Texas whose occupant has charge of election records for a political subdivision.

Medium consensus1 source

General Municipal Election

An election "held pursuant to the provisions of a special charter of an incorporated city." Nev.

Medium consensus1 source

General Or Special Election

The "regular biennial or annual elections for election of United States, state, district, county, township, and municipal officials and the special elections to fill vacancies…

Medium consensus1 source

General Primary Election

Seemingly a contradiction in terms, this is either of: 1.

Medium consensus1 source

General Registrar

In Virginia, a municipal official charged with conducting elections.

Medium consensus1 source

General Services Administration

The U.S. agency charged with making payments to states under HAVA.

Medium consensus1 source

General Village Election

The "annual or biennial election for village officers." N.Y.

Medium consensus1 source

Glass Box Testing

TESTING. Testing based on the assumption that the structure of the system under WHITE BOX test is completely known.

Medium consensus1 source

Glue Code

A form of middleware used to integrate disparate components of a system, as with wrappers or other means of encapsulation.

Medium consensus1 source

Go/no Go Gauge

(opscan) A gauge used to determine whether an optical scan ballot is of sufficiently constant width to be used.

Medium consensus1 source

Grain

(opscan) The direction in which the fibers of optical scan ballot are oriented, which is the direction most resistant to change in shape when exposed to tension or moisture.

Medium consensus1 source

By ESG Editorial Team · Drawing on NIST, the EAC, VVSG, IEEE, and 30+ authoritative sources on voting system design and certification

Voting systems are the machines, software, and supporting infrastructure through which voters mark, cast, and have their ballots counted. The category includes optical scanners, ballot-marking devices, direct-recording electronic (DRE) systems, hand-marked paper ballots, and the back-end systems that aggregate results from precincts and report them to the public.

Why this category matters for election security is rooted in the trust voters place in the systems that record their intent. A voting system that loses votes, that miscounts, or that allows manipulation without detection undermines the legitimacy of the entire election. Conversely, a system that is well designed, well tested, and well understood by election officials produces results that withstand scrutiny even when contested. The work of building and maintaining that trustworthiness is continuous.

Federal testing and certification programs establish a baseline. The Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG), administered by the Election Assistance Commission, define the technical and security requirements a system must meet to be used in federal elections. State testing goes further in some cases, certifying specific configurations, requiring additional documentation, or limiting the use of particular system features. Once a system is in the field, the work of securing it continues through patch management, configuration control, and pre-election logic and accuracy testing.

The terminology in this category reflects the technical and procedural landscape that voting systems inhabit. The concepts here are not optional. Every term describes a system property that has been the subject of standards, recommendations, and in some cases federal law.

Key Concepts

Voting System

The integrated hardware and software used by voters to cast ballots and by election officials to count them.

Optical Scan

A voting system that reads marked paper ballots using optical sensors and counts the marks electronically.

Ballot Marking Device

A device that allows voters to mark their choices on an electronic interface, then prints a human-readable paper ballot.

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail

A printed paper record produced simultaneously with an electronic vote, allowing the voter to confirm their choices before casting.

Cast Vote Record

The permanent record of a single vote as captured and stored by a voting system, in electronic and/or paper form.

Direct Recording Electronic

A voting system that records votes directly into electronic memory, with or without a contemporaneous paper record.

Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

The federal technical standards published by the EAC that define security, accuracy, and accessibility requirements for certified voting systems.

How These Terms Relate

These concepts together describe the technical core of how votes are cast and counted. A voting system is more than a single device. It is an integrated chain of hardware, software, and procedures that begins when a voter enters the booth and ends when results are reported. The terminology here covers that full chain. Optical scan, ballot-marking devices, DRE systems, and VVPAT each represent different points on a spectrum of automation and paper reliance. The choice between them is a policy decision shaped by jurisdiction, voter expectations, and the trade-offs between speed, accessibility, auditability, and security.