The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), an independent and bipartisan commission established by the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA), will retire the standards currently used to test and federally certify voting equipment, known as Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) versions 1.0 and 1.1, on November 16, 2023. A new version of the VVSG, version 2.0, will replace the retired standards. According to the requirements established in the HAVA, the EAC is responsible for developing, maintaining, and updating the VVSG.
The Voluntary Voting System Guidelines are used to test and certify voting systems and equipment for several factors, including “basic functionality, accessibility, and security capabilities.” Federal law does not require voting equipment to comply with Voluntary Voting System Guidelines, though some states legally require compliance.
The commissioners of the EAC voted 4-0 to adopt VVSG 2.0 on February 20, 2021. This action began a process called deprecation. When a previously used VVSG is retired, or deprecated, voting systems and equipment certified to the deprecated standard retain their certification, and jurisdictions may continue to use and acquire previously certified equipment.
