The Caltech-MIT Voting Technology Project (VTP) was established in 2000 by Caltech and MIT to prevent a recurrence of the problems that occurred during the 2000 U.S. Presidential election. The tasks of the Project include evaluating the current state of reliability and uniformity of U.S. voting systems, establishing uniform attributes and quantitative guidelines for performance and reliability of voting systems, and proposing specific uniform guidelines and requirements for reliable voting systems. The Project’s website is a repository of its working papers and reports, including several highly technical in-depth assessments of the reliability of existing voting equipment. Also included is a bibliography of publications by VTP members, covering books and journal articles. The “Links” page contains a sub-section listing articles, reports, and research papers written outside of the Project. Researchers looking for technical analyses of current voting equipment will find this site to be a valuable portal. Unfortunately, the VTP site is not keyword searchable.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a donor-supported membership organization that works to protect and defend civil liberties. E-voting is just one page on EFF’s expansive website. This page provides quick reference guides for different brands of electronic voting machines. Included in this section is a document that lists exactly which voting machines will be used in which locations this election. Briefs, transcripts, exhibits, and opinions are provided in recent court cases involving electronic voting issues. Links to related websites and articles are given. This page is a good resource for specific information on electronic voting machines and litigation involving electronic voting.

Electionline.org is a non-partisan, non-advocacy website that provides election news and analysis to “policymakers, officials, journalists, scholars, and concerned citizens.” It is the product of the Election Reform Information Project, funded by a three-year grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The site posts and organizes links to news articles, published by a variety of sources, on a daily basis. Electionline.org publications analyze the current state of election reform and the business of elections, and are freely available in PDF. An online library provides information on pertinent laws governing elections, including the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). An interesting feature is an interactive map that allows users to create and view specified criteria, such as number of registered voters or type of voting system used, at the county, state, or national level. The site is keyword searchable and a weekly newsletter is available for subscribers.

The National Committee for Voting Integrity (NCVI) brings together experts on voting issues from across the country to promote constructive dialogue among computer scientists, elections administrators, policymakers, the media, and the public on the best methods for achieving a voter-verified balloting system. The NCVI website is divided into organizational categories such as “Voting Rights,” “Standards,” and “Technology,” which encompass timely topics such as centralized voter registration databases, disenfranchisement, and the Help America Vote Act. Each issue section provides a narrative summary of the topic and other considerations pertinent to public election administration. The issue summaries end with a list of bulleted “Principles” that encompass the NCVI’s strong recommendations regarding the topic at hand. Legal researchers will appreciate the site’s Electronic Voting Research Tool, which is divided into sections that cover, in part, biographies of major players, compendiums of voting fraud and irregularities, and brief descriptions of specific voting technologies.

VerifiedVoting.org and the Verified Voting Foundation are non-partisan organizations founded by David L. Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University. The mission of these entities is promoting “transparent, reliable, and publicly verifiable elections in the United States.” The website’s triple purpose is to inform the public of the problems with electronic voting machines, offer reasonable solutions, and provide voters with various actions they can take. The site is organized into numerous components covering news, media, action alerts, legislation and litigation. The legislation section provides comparisons of the proposed House and Senate bills that relate to verified voting. The litigation section summarizes, by state, cases working their way through the courts that address voting issues. On the main page is a list of announcements that help users stay current on the latest developments in voting. One announcement warns voters using e-voting machines to double-check their selections. Another links users to a Virginia news story about flawed touch-screen voting machines in that state. The site also provides state-by-state information including links to election officials, population, electoral votes, and relevant state legislation.