The "quality of a voting system or voting device such that a previously undetected change or in software cannot cause an undetectable change or error in election outcome." FAULT 2007 VVSG. Software independence is a concept unique to electronic voting, developed by Ronald Rivest of MIT and John Wack of NIST. It recognizes that the privacy associated with voting makes it impossible to conduct an independent check that voter's ballots have been recorded correctly, as the voters cannot be asked how they voted. Under such circumstances, an undetected flaw in system software might alter the outcome of an election that would not be apparent. Therefore complete reliance on software is misplaced. It must be possible to AUDIT an election to verify that ballots were recorded and tabulated correctly, and audit cannot rely on the correctness of the software. Software independence is a laudable goal, but its value with respect to a given system depends on the security and reliability of the non-software audit mechanism that is relied upon as a check on the software.
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The "quality of a voting system or voting device such that a previously undetected change or in software cannot cause an undetectable change or error in election outcome." FAULT 2007 VVSG. Software independence is a concept unique to electronic voting, developed by Ronald Rivest of MIT and John Wack of NIST. It recognizes that the privacy associated with voting makes it impossible to conduct an independent check that voter's ballots have been recorded correctly, as the voters cannot be asked how they voted. Under such circumstances, an undetected flaw in system software might alter the outcome of an election that would not be apparent. Therefore complete reliance on software is misplaced. It must be possible to AUDIT an election to verify that ballots were recorded and tabulated correctly, and audit cannot rely on the correctness of the software. Software independence is a laudable goal, but its value with respect to a given system depends on the security and reliability of the non-software audit mechanism that is relied upon as a check on the software.
Cite this term
Election Security Glossary. (2026). Software Independence. In Election Security Glossary. Retrieved August 22, 2026, from https://electionsecurityglossary.com/glossary/software-independence
Sources
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High consensus
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Multi-source
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Disputed
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