RE: [election-services] OSDV Foundation and Overseas Vote Foundation toDevelop XML Data Model for Online Exchange of Voter Registration Data

John,

Looks like they have already penciled in considering EML:

"examine other efforts already underway in the definition of voter and
election data such
as the Elections Markup Language (EML) work of the OASIS Elections &
Voter Services
Group, and other academic projects."

I can contact Susan on Monday - in her DC office - and then followup as needed.

I think the work we are just completing with Pew and Google on the EML 510 compatible with VIP - should be a major selling point here - since clearly all these pieces should fit together - registration and districting.

Also - the changes we've made to support US "district/precinct" concepts in V6 - should now allow us to complete the other piece - voter registration.

If Joe has an introduction here, great, otherwise I'll followup and report back progress etc.

Thanks, DW

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: RE: [election-services] OSDV Foundation and Overseas Vote

Foundation to Develop XML Data Model for Online Exchange of Voter

Registration Data

From: "John Borras" <>

Date: Sat, July 18, 2009 6:15 am

To: "Joseph Lorenzo Hall" <>

Cc: "eml" <>

Joe

Are you on the inside of this project or do we need to find some other

friend to promote our cause?

John

-----Original Message-----

From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall [mailto:] 

Sent: 17 July 2009 20:56

To: eml

Subject: [election-services] OSDV Foundation and Overseas Vote

Foundation to Develop XML Data Model for Online Exchange of Voter

Registration Data

FYI

----

https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/files/OVF-OSDV_%2817July09%29.pdf

OSDV Foundation and Overseas Vote Foundation to Develop XML Data Model

for Online Exchange of Voter Registration Data

Alliance to Provide States a Method to Streamline Voter Registration

Processing

Minneapolis, MN - July 17, 2009 - In an agreement announced today at

the National

Civic Summit in Minneapolis, the Open Source Digital Voting (OSDV)

Foundation's

TrustTheVote Project and Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) will

co-develop a new XML

data model for the electronic exchange of voter registration data.

The data exchange

protocol will significantly streamline, accelerate and improve states'

processing of voter

registration forms.  This online data transfer model will make it

possible for States to

electronically accept registration form data and then rapidly verify

the applicant's record

with the physical signed copy as received.

"A known challenge facing states today is the last minute volume of

voter registration

forms that arrive just days before the registration deadline,"

explained John Sebes, CTO

of the OSDV Foundation's TrustTheVote Project.  "Despite the rise in

third party registrar

services that make registration forms available online, the completed

forms must be sent

in as hard copy in order to meet the signature requirement. This

causes a significant

bottleneck in processing the actual form data due to the manual

re-keying of the printed

data.  All this can be avoided by use of our new proposed standard

data format."

"This is a natural and greatly needed development to what we already

do for many

states," said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, President and CEO, OVF. "This

particular

effort to improve the cycle-time for registration will help both

election officials and

voters."

The TrustTheVote Project's open source digital voter registration

system is being built

for states' free adoption and will have the capacity to accept voter

registration data

online.  Using a scanner, incoming signed registration forms can be

immediately

reconciled with online data using an XML-based voter registration data

model without

needing to re-key the printed data.  The XML model also allows states

to establish

standards for the structure, organization and exchange of this data.

"Working with the TrustTheVote Project allows us to combine their

technical expertise

and our experience in handling voter registration processes from the

unique perspective

of overseas voting to produce an open source solution which reflects

the missions of

both of our Foundations," added Dzieduszycka-Suinat. Both OSDV and OVF

intend to

examine other efforts already underway in the definition of voter and

election data such

as the Elections Markup Language (EML) work of the OASIS Elections &

Voter Services

Group, and other academic projects.

The OSDV Foundation's TrustTheVote Project work relies on a

stakeholder community

of state election officials and other voting systems experts to guide

the design and

development of open source elections technology, freely available to

any state or local

election jurisdiction.  By collaborating with this community, called

the "TTV Design

Congress," OVF and OSDV can produce a data model that will best

reflect the needs of

the states.  The open source XML voter registration data exchange model

will be

available by the end of 2009 with iterative preliminary draft reviews

available prior to its

release.

##########

About the TrustTheVote Project and the OSDV Foundation:

The Open Source Digital Voting (OSDV) Foundation is a 501(c)(3)

non-profit public

benefits organization dedicated to sustaining development efforts to

create freely

available, open source technology for use in managing elections and

conducting voting

in the U.S.  The Foundation's flagship effort is the TrustTheVote

Project - a digital public

works project, creating freely available open source elections

technology maintained in a

public trust to ensure free access and transparency.  The design

process relies on a

collaboration of States' elections officials consorting in a growing

stakeholder community

to review and comment on all design specifications.  The project work

is conducted by a

small team of highly experienced technology architects, supported by a

volunteer

community of developers, voting technology experts, and policy

specialists.

www.TrustTheVote.org

About the Overseas Vote Foundation:

Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) helps overseas and military voters

participate in

federal elections by providing public access to secure, web-based

voter registration tools

and services. In 2008, 4.75 million visitors utilized OVF's

Internet-based voter services.

OVF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan public charity incorporated

in Delaware.

 www.overseasvotefoundation.org

Contacts:

Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat: 202.230.2532, susan (at)

overseasvotefoundation (dot) org

Matt Douglass: 970.570.0162, mdouglass (at) osdv (dot) org

-- 

Joseph Lorenzo Hall

ACCURATE Postdoctoral Research Associate

UC Berkeley School of Information

Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy

http://josephhall.org/

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