Copyright OASIS, 2001 OASIS Election & Voter Services Technical Committee John Borras Office of e-Envoy Cabinet Office UK Government Dec 2002

Copyright OASIS, 2001 OASIS OVERVIEW OF ORGANISATION

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Mission OASIS drives the development, convergence & adoption of e-business standards.

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Overview OASIS is a member consortium dedicated to building systems interoperability specifications Focus on applications of structured information standards (eg XML, SGML) Members of OASIS are providers, users and specialists of standards-based technologies – Include organisations, individuals, industry groups and governments – More than 500 members International, Not-for-profit, Open, Independent Successful through industry and government wide collaboration

Copyright OASIS, 2001 OASIS Value Nine years demonstrated success Neutral and independent Technical and procedural competence Worldwide visibility and outreach Close coordination with peer standards organisations on a global level Relevance, Openness, Implement-ability

Copyright OASIS, 2001 OASIS technical agenda  The OASIS technical agenda is set by the members; bottom-up approach  Technical committees formed by the proposal of members  Attempt to cooperate and liaise with other standards organisations as much as possible

Copyright OASIS, 2001 OASIS standards process  Standards are created under an open, democratic, vendor-neutral process – Any interested parties may participate, comment – No one organisation can dictate the standard – Ensures that standards meet everyone’s needs, not just largest players’  Open to all interested parties  All discussion open to public comment  Resulting work is guaranteed to be representative of OASIS as a whole, not just any one vendor’s view

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Progression of OASIS technical work 1.Any three OASIS members propose creation of a technical committee (TC) 2.TC conducts and completes technical work; open and publicly viewable 3.TC votes to approve work as an OASIS Committee Specification 4. Committee Specification tested in at least 3 pilots 5.OASIS membership reviews, approves the Committee Specification as an OASIS Standard

Copyright OASIS, 2001 E&VS Technical Committee Overview & Progress

Copyright OASIS, 2001 History Formed March 2001 – election.com, Accenture, Microsoft Inaugural Meeting May 2001 Chairmanship changed August 2001 Chair: UK Office of E-Envoy Monthly meetings and workshops to date – Teleconference and face-to-face

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Committee Membership Governments – UK, USA, Italy, France, Australia, NZ – European Parliament Corporations Election service providers Open source groups Media Election reform and watchdog groups

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Committee Charter The purpose of the Election and Voter Services Technical Committee is to develop a standard for the structured interchange of data among hardware, software, and service providers who engage in any aspect of providing election or voter services to public or private organizations.

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Deliverables  Election Markup Language (EML)  Data interchange standards to support voting processes  Defined as XML schemas  Facilitate all aspects of election and voter services, public and private  Sanctioned through OASIS

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Why Interchange Standards? Need for information to be exchanged at several points in the election process Several parties involved Need to service dissimilar systems and equipment Open process

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Benefits of using EML More choice of products and suppliers Less dependency on a single supplier Avoid proprietary lock-in Stability or reduction in costs Accommodate future changes more easily Common core but allows local customisation / extension

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Why XML? Widely accepted open standard Ability to support disparate systems Text based Easy to understand and implement Extensible International

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Targeted Processes  Pre election  Declaration of Elections  Nominating Candidates  Registration of Voters  Election  Casting of Votes  Post election   Declaring Results  Audit  Analysis

Copyright OASIS, 2001

Documentation Process and Data Requirements – Outlines voting processes – Identifies data requirements – Contains glossary of terms – Addresses security issues XML Schemas – Overview of approach taken in preparing the schemas – 17 Individual schemas

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Security Key security requirements are:  Identity authentication  Right to vote authentication  Vote sealing and non-repudiation of vote accuracy  Vote confidentiality  Voting Audit

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Milestones EML version 1 agreed by TC - May 2002 Version 2 agreed Sept 2002 Version 3 being considered by TC Testing underway: – UK local elections May 2003 – Swiss Canton elections? – USA Armed Forces overseas pilot?

Copyright OASIS, 2001 E-Voting in the UK (1) Aim: An e-enabled General Election some time after 2006 Kiosk voting and remote electronic voting Multi-channel: Internet,Telephone, SMS, Digital TV, Polling stations, Post Pilots testing systems for security and reliability, and building voter confidence

Copyright OASIS, 2001 E-Voting in the UK (2) 2002 pilots – 9 wards, variety of methods, – no security or other problems, – slight increase in voter participation 2003 pilots – £10m funding available – 25 councils, multi channels – Use EML

Copyright OASIS, 2001 E-Voting in the UK (3) Critical Success Factors: – Making voting more straightforward for the public – Making elections more accessible, more convenient and more attractive – Maintaining public confidence in the security of the systems – Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of electoral administration

Copyright OASIS, 2001 EML Localisation Need to localise EML Restrict certain parts, and/or add local elements EML(UK) prepared for UK May 2003 pilots Consultations with election officials and suppliers ‘Schematron’ used to handle and apply localisations Documents on

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Future work Future versions to reflect experiences learnt from test sites Wider participation by other Governments, eg COE, and suppliers Accommodate other types of election systems, eg Referendums Develop compliance accreditation process Ongoing enhancements and review to accommodate any changes in voting policies/legislation

Copyright OASIS, 2001 Thank you for your attention Any Questions? Tel no. +44 (0)