§20961 Technical Guidelines Development Committee

Summary

Creates a Technical Guidelines Development Committee to help the Commission’s Executive Director make voluntary voting system guidelines. The Committee must give its first recommendations within 9 months after all members are appointed. The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology must chair the Committee, which also includes 14 other people chosen together by the Commission and that Director. Those 14 include equal numbers from three advisory boards, a representative of the American National Standards Institute, a representative of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, two state election directors picked by the National Association of State Election Directors who are not on the boards and who are from different political parties, and other technical experts. A majority of members makes a quorum, and the group cannot do business until every member is appointed. Members get no pay but do receive travel expenses and per diem at the federal employee rates under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5. At the Committee’s request, the National Institute of Standards and Technology must provide technical help and research on topics like computer and network security, fraud detection and prevention, voter privacy, human factors and assistive technologies, and remote/Internet voting. No private company can claim intellectual property rights over any guideline content the Commission adopts. When the Commission adopts a guideline, the Committee must publish its recommendations about that guideline in the Federal Register at the same time.