Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 105 / Wednesday, June 3, 2009 / Notices 26665 

This procedure will make it easier for 

the Department to find peer reviewers 

by ensuring that greater numbers of 

individuals who are eligible to serve as 

reviewers for any particular group of 

applicants will not have conflicts of 

interest. It also will increase the quality, 

independence, and fairness of the 

review process while permitting panel 

members to review applications under 

discretionary grant competitions for 

which they also have submitted 

applications. However, if the 

Department decides to select an equal 

number of applications in each group 

for funding, this may result in different 

cut-off points for fundable applications 

in each group. 

VI. Award Administration Information 

1. Award Notices: If your application 

is successful, we notify your U.S. 

Representative and U.S. Senators and 

send you a Grant Award Notification 

(GAN). We may notify you informally, 

also. 

If your application is not evaluated or 

not selected for funding, we notify you. 

2. Administrative and National Policy 

Requirements: We identify 

administrative and national policy 

requirements in the application package 

and reference these and other 

requirements in the Applicable 

Regulations section of this notice. 

We reference the regulations outlining 

the terms and conditions of an award in 

the Applicable Regulations section of 

this notice and include these and other 

specific conditions in the GAN. The 

GAN also incorporates your approved 

application as part of your binding 

commitments under the grant. 

3. Reporting: At the end of your 

project period, you must submit a final 

performance report, including financial 

information, as directed by the 

Secretary. If you receive a multi-year 

award, you must submit an annual 

performance report that provides the 

most current performance and financial 

expenditure information as directed by 

the Secretary under 34 CFR 75.118. The 

Secretary may also require more 

frequent performance reports under 34 

CFR 75.720(c). For specific 

requirements on reporting, please go to 

http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/ 

appforms/appforms.html. 

4. Performance Measures: Under the 

Government Performance and Results 

Act of 1993 (GPRA), the Department has 

established a set of performance 

measures, including long-term 

measures, that are designed to yield 

information on various aspects of the 

effectiveness and quality of the 

Technology and Media Services for 

Individuals with Disabilities program. 

These measures focus on the extent to 

which projects provide high-quality 

products and services, are relevant to 

improving outcomes for children with 

disabilities, and contribute to improving 

outcomes for children with disabilities. 

We will collect data on these measures 

from the project funded under this 

competition. 

The grantee will be required to report 

information on its project’s performance 

in annual reports to the Department (34 

CFR 75.590). 

VII. Agency Contact 

For Further Information Contact: 

Michael Slade, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 

room 4175, PCP, Washington, DC 

20202–2550. Telephone: (202) 245– 

7527. 

If you use a TDD, call the Federal 

Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1–800– 

877–8339. 

VIII. Other Information 

Accessible Format: Individuals with 

disabilities can obtain this document 

and a copy of the application package in 

an accessible format (e.g., Braille, large 

print, audiotape, or computer diskette) 

by contacting the Grants and Contracts 

Services Team, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., 

room 5075, PCP, Washington, DC 

20202–2550. Telephone: (202) 245– 

7363. If you use a TDD, call the FRS, toll 

free, at 1–800–877–8339. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

You can view this document, as well as 

all other documents of this Department 

published in the Federal Register, in 

text or Adobe Portable Document 

Format (PDF) on the Internet at the 

following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/ 

fedregister. 

To use PDF you must have Adobe 

Acrobat Reader, which is available free 

at this site. If you have questions about 

using PDF, call the U.S. Government 

Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1– 

888–293–6498; or in the Washington, 

DC, area at (202) 512–1530. 

Note: The official version of this document 

is the document published in the Federal 

Register. Free Internet access to the official 

edition of the Federal Register and the Code 

of Federal Regulations is available on GPO 

Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/ 

index.html. 

Delegation of Authority: The Secretary 

of Education has delegated authority to 

Andrew J. Pepin, Executive 

Administrator for the Office of Special 

Education and Rehabilitative Services to 

perform the functions of the Assistant 

Secretary for Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services. 

Dated: May 28, 2009. 

Andrew J. Pepin, 

Executive Administrator for Special 

Education and Rehabilitative Services. 

[FR Doc. E9–12905 Filed 6–2–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION 

Proposed Guidance on Voluntary 

Voting System Guidelines 

AGENCY: United States Election 

Assistance Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed updates and 

revisions to the 2005 Voluntary Voting 

System Guidelines and request for 

public comment. 

SUMMARY: The Help America Vote Act of 

2002 (HAVA) (Pub. L. 107–252; 42 

U.S.C. 15301 et seq. (October 29, 2002)) 

established the U.S. Election Assistance 

Commission (EAC). Section 202 of 

HAVA directs the EAC to adopt 

voluntary voting system guidelines 

(VVSG) and to provide for the testing, 

certification, decertification, and 

recertification of voting system 

hardware and software. The VVSG 

provides specifications and standards 

against which voting systems can be 

tested to determine if they provide basic 

functionality, accessibility, and security 

capabilities. 

As required by Section 222(d) of 

HAVA the EAC is placing its proposed 

updates and revisions out for a 120-day 

public comment period. The EAC is 

asking for comments regarding all 

sections of the standards impacted by 

the update process. This updated and 

revised version of the VVSG will be 

known as Voluntary Voting System 

Guidelines v.1.1 (VVSG v.1.1). 

The EAC made the decision to update 

and revise the 2005 VVSG as a result of 

feedback received through its Voting 

System Testing and Certification 

Program. As the EAC has worked to test 

and certify voting systems it observed 

and received feedback from various 

sources that the standards being tested 

to were at times ambiguous and difficult 

to apply in testing. This ambiguity has 

led to challenges in making testing 

consist both within a test laboratory and 

across different laboratories. In addition, 

the EAC has received feedback from the 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) that the creation of 

formalized test suites for the 2005 VVSG 

would be aided by a clarification of 

certain portions of document. This 

information, combined with the EAC’s 

issuance of seventeen interpretations of 

the VVSG to clarify various standards, 


PWALKER on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES
26666 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 105 / Wednesday, June 3, 2009 / Notices 

led the EAC to propose improvements to 

the 2005 VVSG. 

Specifically, the EAC determined to 

implement a number of 

recommendations submitted by the 

EAC’s Technical Guidelines 

Development Committee (TGDC). On 

March 29, 2006, the TGDC held its first 

meeting to discuss the next iteration of 

the VVSG. Since that time, the TGDC 

has held numerous public meetings and 

subcommittee conference calls to create 

a set of draft guidelines for 

recommendation to the EAC (all TGDC 

meeting materials can be found at 

http://www.vote.nist.gov). On August 

17, 2007, the TGDC voted to complete 

final edits of their recommendations 

and submit them to the Executive 

Director of the EAC. The EAC received 

the draft guidelines from the TGDC on 

August 31, 2007. 

After receipt of the TGDC’s 

recommendations for the next iteration 

of the VVSG the EAC opened a one 

hundred and eighty day public 

comment period. During this public 

comment period the EAC received over 

3000 comments on the 

recommendations. In addition, during 

the comment period the EAC conducted 

a series of seven roundtable discussions 

regarding the TGDC’s recommendations. 

After the close of the public comment 

period for the TGDC’s recommendations 

the EAC made the decision to update 

and revise the 2005 VVSG with portions 

of the TGDC’s recommendations. The 

purpose of this revision is to clarify and 

improve the VVSG in order to allow for 

more efficient and consistent testing 

under the EAC’s Testing and 

Certification Program. 

In addition, to the observations and 

feedback produced by the EAC’s Testing 

and Certification Program the gained 

additional information as a of the public 

comment review of the EAC’s Technical 

Guidelines Development Committee’s 

recommendations for the Next Iteration 

of the VVSG. During this comment 

period, which ran from September 2007 

to May 2008 the EAC received 

comments praising many of the 

proposed standards as being more 

testable and less ambiguous as previous 

versions of the standard. Also, during 

this comment period the EAC held a 

series of seven round table discussions 

with various sections of the Election 

Community. During these round table 

discussions there was near unanimous 

agreement that the TGDC recommended 

standards were a clearly written and a 

more testable standard than the 2005 

VVSG. 

Based on all of this information the 

EAC made the decision to revise and 

update the 2005 VVSG with portions of 

the TGDC recommended version of the 

VVSG. While the EAC is continuing to 

work with the next iteration of the 

standards it felt it was important to 

revise and update the 2005 VVSG. The 

purpose for these revisions and updates 

is to: 

♦ Improve the clarity and testability 

of the VVSG. 

♦ Ensure consistency of testing by 

accredited test laboratories. 

♦ Aid NIST in the development of 

test suites for the VVSG. 

♦ Minimize the need for EAC 

interpretations of the standards. 

♦ Update portions of VVSG 

requirements to reflect advancements in 

voting technology. 

In evaluating which sections of the 

TGDC recommendations to use to 

update the 2005 VVSG the EAC/NIST 

used the following criteria: 

♦ Those sections which would not 

require hardware changes to current 

voting systems. 

♦ Those sections which would not 

require complex software changes to 

current voting systems. 

♦ Those sections which cause no 

substantial changes to the overall 

structure of the 2005 VVSG. 

♦ Those sections which clarify or 

improve portions of the 2005 VVSG in 

order to allow for development of test 

cases. 

With those criteria in mind the EAC 

chose to revise the following sections of 

the 2005 VVSG with the following 

sections of the TGDC recommendations: 

1. Hardware and Software Performance 

Benchmarks and Test Method 

• Volume I Section 4.1.1 of the 2005 

VVSG is replaced by Part 1 Section 6.3.2 

(Accuracy) of the TGDC 

Recommendations. 

• Volume I Section 4.1.5.1.e.ii (under 

Ballot Handling) and 4.1.5.2.f (under 

Ballot Reading Accuracy) of the 2005 

VVSG are replaced by Part 1 Section 

6.3.3 (Misfeed Rate) of the TGDC 

Recommendations. 

• Volume I Section 4.3.3 of the 2005 

VVSG is replaced by a condensed 

version of Part 1 Section 6.3.1 

(Reliability) of the TGDC 

Recommendations. 

• To update the test method, Volume 

II Appendix C of the 2005 VVSG is 

completely replaced by Part 3 Section 

5.3 of the TGDC Recommendations. 

Volume II Sections 4.7.1.1 and 4.7.3 of 

the 2005 VVSG are deleted. Volume II 

Sections 1.8.2.3 and 4.5 of the 2005 

VVSG are harmonized with Part 3 

Section 2.5.3 of the TGDC 

Recommendations. 

2. Software Workmanship 

• Volume I Section 5.2 of the 2005 

VVSG is replaced by Part 1 Sections 

6.4.1 through 6.4.1.8 of the TGDC 

Recommendations. 

• Volume II Section 5.4 of the 2005 

VVSG is replaced by Part 3 Section 4.5.1 

of the TGDC Recommendations. 

• Volume II Section 1.8.2.6 

(Certification Test Practices) of the 2005 

VVSG is harmonized with Part 3 Section 

2.5.5 of the TGDC Recommendations to 

clarify the handling of logic defects. 

3. Test Plan and Test Report— 

Appendices A and B of Volume II of the 

2005 VVSG are harmonized with the 

current EAC manuals and NOC 09–001. 

4. TDP and Voting Equipment User 

Documentation—Volume II Section 

2.1.1.1 of the 2005 VVSG is revised to 

include an outline of the TDP and the 

Voting Equipment User Documentation 

that is based on the TGDC 

Recommendations. Miscellaneous TDP 

requirements are added or modified to 

correct problems: 

• Volume II Section 2.1.3 (Protection 

of Proprietary Information) is 

harmonized with EAC manuals. 

• An obsolete normative reference is 

removed from Volume II Section 2.7.1. 

• Volume II Sections 2.2.1 and 2.5.5.2 

have new requirements to identify the 

compilers and interpreters used by the 

voting system. 

• Volume II Section 2.2.2 has a new 

requirement for optical scanners, to 

specify what constitutes a reliably 

detectable mark versus a marginal mark. 

• Volume II Section 2.8.5 has a new 

requirement to detail the care and 

handling precautions necessary for 

removable media to last the statutory 22 

months. 

5. (Non-EMC) Environmental Hardware 

• Volume I Section 4.1.2.13 

(Environmental Control—Operating 

Environment) of the 2005 VVSG is 

revised with an operational temperature 

and humidity test requirement, with 

temperatures ranging from 41 °F to 104 

°F (5 °C to 40 °C) and relative humidity 

from 5% to 85%, non-condensing. 

• Volume II Section 4.7.1 

(Temperature and Power Variation 

Tests) is replaced with requirements for 

testing according to appropriate 

procedures of MIL–STD–810D. Most of 

the previous text in this section was 

devoted to test materials, including 

detailed test scenarios, which will be 

included in the test materials for the 

2005 VVSG revision. 

6. Human Factors Requirements—The 

usability and accessibility requirements 

in Volume I Section 3 of the 2005 VVSG 

are replaced with requirements from 


PWALKER on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 105 / Wednesday, June 3, 2009 / Notices 26667 

Part 1 Chapter 3 of the TGDC 

Recommendations, with the exception 

of Chapter 3’s performance benchmark 

requirements. Part 1 Chapter 3 of the 

TGDC Recommendations is primarily a 

maintenance level upgrade to the 2005 

VVSG with minor modifications, 

clarifications, and a few additions 

including performance and poll worker 

usability requirements. (The VSS 2002 

contained almost no usability, 

accessibility, and privacy requirements. 

As a result, the 2005 VVSG Section 3 

was mostly new material based on 

research, best practices, and standards 

relating to human factors and the design 

of user interfaces as they apply to voting 

systems.) 

7. System Security Documentation 

Requirements—Security documentation 

requirements in Volume II Section 2.6 

(Security Documentation) of the 2005 

VVSG are revised with requirements 

from Part 2 Section 3.5 (System Security 

Specification) of the TGDC 

Recommendations. The new 

requirements include high-level security 

descriptions of the voting system and 

specific areas including 

• Access control, 

• Software installation security, 

• System event logging, 

• Physical security, 

• Setup inspection, and 

• Cryptography. 

8. Electronic Records—Section 2.4.4 

(Electronic Records) has been added to 

Volume I Section 2 (Functional 

Requirements) of the 2005 VVSG; it 

contains requirements from Part 1 

Chapter 4.3 (Electronic Records) of the 

TGDC Recommendations. These 

requirements cover the electronic 

reports generated by the voting system, 

including specific reports for tabulators 

and Election Management Systems 

(EMS). 

9. Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails 

(VVPAT)—VVPAT requirements in 

Volume I Sections 7.9.1 through 7.9.4 

(Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail 

Requirements) are replaced with 

requirements from Part 1 Chapter 4.4.2 

(VVPAT) of the TGDC 

Recommendations. 

10. Cryptography—Cryptography 

requirements in the 2005 VVSG are 

revised with requirements from Part 1 

Section 5.1 (Cryptography) of the TGDC 

Recommendations. When cryptography 

is used in a voting system, the 

requirements call for the use of a level 

1 FIPS 140 validated cryptographic 

module (which allows software as well 

as hardware implementations, whereas 

the TGDC Recommendations allowed 

only hardware implementations). In 

addition, the new requirements require 

the use of NIST approved cryptographic 

algorithms at the 112-bit security 

strength or higher. 

11. External Interface Requirement— 

Volume I Section 7.4.6 (Software Setup 

Validation) of the 2005 VVSG are 

revised with newly developed 

requirements to allow an alternative 

method to validate software on voting 

systems. The requirements state that 

voting systems must support one of the 

two verification methods specified in 

the requirements. The current software 

verification method allows software to 

be verified after software has been 

installed. The alternative software 

verification method verifies software as 

it is being installed on the voting system 

and requires voting systems to have 

mechanisms to protect the software 

once installed. 

12. EAC Requests for Interpretation 

(RFI) decisions—Requirements and 

discussion throughout the 2005 VVSG 

are revised based on the current set of 

EAC RFI decisions, from 2007–01 

through 2008–12, located at http:// 

www.eac.gov/program-areas/votingsystems/voting-system-certification/ 

interpretations. 

13. General Edits—Several sections of 

the VVSG were revised to improve the 

consistency of wording or fix errors in 

the 2005 VVSG. In addition, several 

sections were revised to recognize the 

creation of the EAC’s Testing and 

Certification Program which was not in 

place at the time of adoption of the 2005 

VVSG. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before 4 p.m. EST on September 28, 

2009. 

Submission of Comments: The public 

may submit comments through one of 

the three different methods provided by 

the EAC: (1) Online electronic comment 

form at http://www.eac.gov, (Please note 

that the electronic comment tool will 

not be immediately available. The EAC 

will inform the public once the online 

comment tool becomes available.); (2) 

by mail to Voluntary Voting System 

Guidelines Comments, U.S. Election 

Assistance Commission, 1225 New York 

Ave, NW., Suite 1100, Washington, DC 

20005; and (3) via e-mail at 

votingsystemguidelines@eac.gov. 

Members of the public are encouraged 

to submit comments electronically to 

ensure timely receipt and consideration. 

In order to allow efficient and 

effective review of comments the EAC 

requests that: 

(1) Comments refer to the specific 

section that is the subject of the 

comment. 

(2) General comments regarding the 

entire document or comments that refer 

to more than one section be made as 

specifically as possible so that EAC can 

clearly understand to which portion(s) 

of the documents the comment refers. 

(3) To the extent that a comment 

suggests a change in the wording of a 

requirement or section of the guidelines, 

please provide proposed language for 

the suggested change. 

To Obtain a Copy of the VVSG 

Volume Version 1.1: Due to the fact that 

the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 

are more than 400 pages in length, the 

entire draft document has not been 

attached to this notice. A complete copy 

of the draft VVSG version 1.1 is 

available from the EAC in electronic 

format. An electronic copy can be 

downloaded in PDF format on the EAC’s 

Web site, http://www.eac.gov. In order 

to obtain a paper copy of the TGDC draft 

recommendations please mail a written 

request to Voluntary Voting System 

Guidelines Comments, U.S. Election 

Assistance Commission, 1225 New York 

Ave, NW., Suite 1100, Washington, DC 

20005. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Matthew Masterson, Phone (202) 566– 

3100, e-mail 

votingsystemguidelines@eac.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Prior to 

the passage of HAVA, the Federal 

Election Commission (FEC) published 

the 2002 Voting System Standards 

(VSS). HAVA mandated that the EAC 

update the VSS. In December of 2005 

the EAC adopted the 2005 VVSG. The 

2005 VVSG used many of the same 

requirements as the 2002 VSS but it 

expanded the security, accessibility, and 

usability sections. 

Donetta L. Davidson, 

Commissioner, U.S. Election Assistance 

Commission. 

[FR Doc. E9–12831 Filed 5–29–09; 11:15 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–KF–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

[OE Docket No. EA–356] 

Application To Export Electric Energy; 

J.P. Morgan Commodities Canada 

Corporation 

AGENCY: Office of Electricity Delivery 

and Energy Reliability, DOE. 

ACTION: Notice of application. 

SUMMARY: J.P. Morgan Commodities 

Canada Corporation (JPMCCC) has 

applied for authority to transmit electric 

energy from the United States to Canada 

pursuant to section 202(e) of the Federal 

Power Act. 

DATES: Comments, protests, or requests 

to intervene must be submitted on or 

before July 6, 2009. 


PWALKER on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES