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

Qualified Voter In A Town

A "person who is a resident within the corporate boundaries of the town in which he offers to vote, duly registered in the county of his residence, and otherwise a Va.

Medium consensus1 source

Qualified Write In

A candidate who has filed registration papers with the responsible authority and for whom a vote may be counted in a jurisdiction that permits only WRITE-INS.

Medium consensus1 source

Qualifying Precinct

Under HAVA, a precinct that used a or lever voting system "to PUNCH CARD VOTING SYSTEM administer the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office held in November…

Medium consensus1 source

Quality And Configuration Management Manual

A documentation item required of a under the VVSG, detailing the MANUFACTURER 2007 quality assurance and configuration management processes and procedures followed by the…

Medium consensus1 source

Quality Assurance

A "manufacturer function with associated practices that is initiated prior to system development and continues throughout the maintenance life cycle of the voting system.

Medium consensus1 source

Quality Check

The "sum of the activities Design and Development Review, Design and Development Verification, and Design and Development Validation, as defined in ISO 9001:2000." VVSG.

Medium consensus1 source

Question

"'Question' means any proposition submitted to the voters." Me.

Medium consensus1 source

Question Counter

The counter which numerically registers the votes cast on a QUESTION.

Medium consensus1 source

Question Submitted Election

Any "election at which a special question is to be voted on by the electors of the state or a part of them." Kan.

Medium consensus1 source

Questionable Ab Ballot

A "VOTED received in a mail absentee return envelope where the envelope is torn, BALLOT taped, or shows signs of tampering, were the secret ballot envelope is not used or not…

Medium consensus1 source

Questionable Ballot

A "paper ballot deemed questionable because of improper voting or other reasons." Hawaii Admin.

Medium consensus1 source

Questioned Ballot

Alaska Stat. §15.15.215. PROVISONAL BALLOT.

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.