Help America Vote Act of 2002

Citation: Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), Pub. L. No. 107-252, 116 Stat. 1666 (2002).

Overview
The Act aims to improve the administration of elections in the United States, primarily through three means:


 * 1) creating a new federal agency to serve as a clearinghouse for election administration information;
 * 2) roviding funds to states to improve election administration and replace outdated voting systems; and
 * 3) creating minimum standards for states to follow in several key areas of election administration.

Role of NIST
The Act gave the NIST a key role in helping to implement nationwide improvements in voting systems by January 2006. To assist the Election Assistance Commission with the development of voluntary voting system guidelines, HAVA established the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) and directs NIST to chair the TGDC. NIST research activities include:


 * security of computers, computer networks, and computer data storage used in voting systems;
 * methods to detect and prevent fraud;
 * protection of voter privacy; and
 * the role of human factors in the design and application of voting systems, including assistive technologies for individuals with disabilities (including blindness) and varying levels of literacy.