RABET-V Program Manual#

Introduction#

The Rapid Architecture-Based Election Technology Verification (RABET-V) program is a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective approach to verifying non-voting election systems. RABET-V is designed to introduce testing standards by which election offices can be assured of the security and reliability of the technology used for non-voting systems like electronic pollbooks and election night reporting systems.

For more information of the background and motivation for RABET-V:

Program Goal#

The RABET-V program provides assurances of security, reliability, accessibility, and usability sufficient for technology providers and election officials to have confidence in their use in election administration. Organizations and their products are assessed on their capability to effectively build, test, monitor, and maintain their election technology solution through evidence-based assessment, automated tools, and product testing.

Program Benefits#

Registered technology providers (RTPs) and election officials benefit from the RABET-V program in a number of ways. The RABET-V program:

  • Evaluates architectures to assess the risk of changes. Understanding the architecture allows for streamlined testing for future versions, which saves time and money

  • Analyzes software development processes to assess the likelihood of positive outcomes. Good software development processes reduce the risk that an organization will make a mistake in implementing a change

  • Prescribes different levels of testing based on the type of change and the maturity of the product. Faster testing means a lower cost for technology providers

  • Re-evaluates new product versions quickly for products with higher organizational and architecture maturity scores

  • Grounds all assessments in security best practices listed in the security requirements appendix of this program manual. The 153 discrete RABET-V security requirements were constructed based on several national security standards for non-voting equipment.

Program Scope#

RABET-V is intended for all election technologies, excluding voting systems.

An election technology is an information system that supports an elections administration process.

A “voting system” is defined in the Help American Vote Act (H.R. 3295, Sec 301) as “(1) the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment (including the software, firmware, and documentation required to program, control, and support the equipment) that is used—(A) to define ballots; (B) to cast and count votes; (C) to report or display election results; and (D) to maintain and produce any audit trail information; and (2) the practices and associated documentation used—(A) to identify system components and versions of such components; (B) to test the system during its development and maintenance; (C) to maintain records of system errors and defects; (D) to determine specific system changes to be made to a system after the initial qualification of the system; and (E) to make available any materials to the voter (such as notices, instructions, forms, or paper ballots).”

A non-voting system is any other information system used to administer an election. Examples include voter registration databases, electronic pollbooks, and the websites of government election authorities.

RABET-V Activities#

RABET-V consists of three core activities, each performed by an accredited assessor organization:

  1. Organizational Assessment: measures the quality of a technology provider’s product development practices to answer the question “how good is the organization at developing technology products?”

  2. Architecture Assessment: examines the product’s components and environment at both the system and software levels to develop a picture of risk and risk mitigation to answer the question “how well-designed is the architecture underlying the product?”

  3. Product Verification: confirms the ability of the system to prevent unintended actions or output to answer the question “does the product prevent unintended outcomes?”

These activities result in a set of maturity scores that are used to assess the risk of changes in a particular product. Understanding the organizational maturity, architecture maturity, and product implementation scores allows the RABET-V administrator to prescribe different levels of testing for product revisions. Certain types of changes to a product with higher organizational and architecture maturity scores can be evaluated more quickly in subsequent iterations.

Through RABET-V, registered technology providers get more feedback and a roadmap for improvement. Election officials can request more detailed reporting of a technology provider’s security, reliability, accessibility, and usability and evaluate the organizational maturity of an organization when considering election technology products. Both technology providers and election officials alike get a more efficient verification process.

RABET-V Administrator#

The RABET-V administrator is a central body responsible for overseeing the RABET-V program, including:

  • Accepting requests from and managing the list of RABET-V registered technology providers

  • Accepting requests from and managing the list of accredited assessor organizations

  • Hosting and managing content and workflows on the RABET-V portal, a platform for accredited assessor organizations, RTPs, and state/local jurisdictions to register for the RABET-V program and communicate about RABET-V activities

  • Managing the RABET-V program content and manuals, making changes as necessary and as supported by the strategic advisory committee

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) serves as the RABET-V administrator.