Voting System Performance Rating Launch

Today the Voting System Performace Rating (VSPR) organization launches. I'm the chair of the Existing Systems Explication working group. It is a privilege to be a part of such an impressive and properly oriented organization.

Here's more from the Newsweek coverage ("A Step Forward in The Voting Wars"):

So it's nice to be the first to report a development that might help things out. A renowned cryptographer with a keen interest in voting, David Chaum has persuaded a team of election officials, computer scientists, interest-group advocates and voting-equipment makers to join in a coalition called Voting Systems Performance Rating (VSPR). The goal is to generate a set of voting-system standards that everyone can agree on%u2014sort of a Consumer Reports for election machines. There would be ratings in areas like security, privacy, reliability and accessibility to the elderly and the disabled. After the group does its work, states and counties would have a way to evaluate voting equipment before they buy. Voters could be more effective watchdogs, since VSPR's work would be public. "In voting systems, the thing you need most is transparency," says Chaum.