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

Readable Ballot

A "ballot that the certified vote tallying system can accept and read as the voter intended without alteration, and that meets the standards of the county canvassing board subject…

Medium consensus1 source

Readback

The action of repeating an audio representation of the selections made by a voter.

Medium consensus1 source

Reader

In Texas, a person who reads the to a voter with a visual or reading disability.

Medium consensus1 source

Readiness Report

A report detailing the fitness of a voting system component to perform properly in an election.

Medium consensus1 source

Ready State

A of a after polls have been opened and the device has VOTING STATE VOTE-CAPTURE DEVICE been placed in but is not in state.

Medium consensus1 source

Realtime Clock

Each touchscreen must have a realtime clock "capable of recording and documenting the DRE total time polls are open in a precinct and capable of documenting the opening and…

Medium consensus1 source

Recall Committee

A "committee formed by persons sponsoring the recall of an elected official which represents the sponsors and signers of a in matters relating to the recall effort." N.J.

Medium consensus1 source

Recall Election Official

The "official authorized by law to receive nominating petitions for an elective office, except that with respect to the recall of the county clerk, it means the Secretary of…

Medium consensus1 source

Recanvass

A procedure to check the validity of the CANVASS.

Medium consensus1 source

Recapitulation Sheet

A required report containing an accounting for ballots received, voted, spoiled, etc.

Medium consensus1 source

Receipt Freeness

The property of a voting system in not generating any which would enable the voter RECEIPT to prove to any other person how she voted in the election.

Medium consensus1 source

Receiving Board

A "subdivision of the counting board consisting of at least two (2) individuals responsible for receiving the sealed ballots at the counting center on election night".

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.