Technology Policy
Guard Rails for Democracy.
OUR ROLE
The evolving world of election administration in the digital age calls for new legislative initiatives at all levels to provide for everything from funding to security of voting systems.
OSET INSTITUTE ACTIVITY BREAKDOWN
WE UNDERSTAND TECHNOLOGY POLICY
Technology policy requires deep understanding of the technical issues and the impact of related legislation. Responsible regulation, to the extent required, must be developed with an understanding of the underlying technology of election administration that will be impacted by resulting regulation.
IMPORTANCE
Lobbyists and special interests are bombarding Congress and states’ legislatures. That is to be expected and is part of the political process.
However, intellectually honest information to help produce pragmatic and responsible legislation is paramount in this sector, given its imperative role in defense of democracy. As a 501(c)(3) organization, the OSET Institute seeks to inform, not influence. In other words, the Institute cannot and does not “lobby.” We’re available to educate in a non-influential manner.
IMPACT
The founders of the OSET Institute did not imagine it would become a “Think Tank.” In fact, the mission is to be a “Do Tank.”
However, given unique domain expertise in election technology as well as process and policy, the OSET Institute is playing an important role in several states and federal legislative efforts.
Today, the Institute, with a team of eight policy specialists, regularly advises Congressional committees, as well as agencies and departments of the national security apparatus. This has become a key and essential impact of our work.
And this capability is also being leveraged by the Media and in our subject matter expertise partnership with NBCUniversal Vote Watch and other media platforms to be announced.
There is a continuous feedback loop as the Institute is also engaged with the open standards making efforts with NIST and contributing to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s on-going efforts to develop new design guidelines and next generation federal certification processes—all can be and is informed by OSET Institute technology R&D.