Electronic voting has been plagued by controversy and mistrust, stemming from past problems with e-voting machines. The most famous example is the Diebold Election System, used by the US government, which was criticised for not producing physical paper trails.

To combat this problem, and introduce uniform standards, legendary cryptographer David Chaum has set up the Voting System Performance Rating (VSPR). The VSPR aims to publish a report, and set of tests, that will allow e-voting systems be evaluated in areas of privacy, accessibility and accuracy. Mr. Chaum said it would be like: “a Consumer Report for voting systems.”

Mr. Chaum had to convince voting companies that VSPR was: “the only way they could get the market to straighten itself out so they could make money. This was the only way they could stop the war between the voting officials and security advocates.” Either way VSPR indicates a move towards stricter standards for e-voting devices, which in turn could lead to not only a faster and more accurate processing of votes on election day but also increased trust in the electoral process.