Election Cybersecurity Glossary
5,285 Terms for Fast, Reliable Verification
A comprehensive reference of election security terminology, combining definitions from 33 authoritative sources including NIST, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the Department of Defense, NATO, and the Director of National Intelligence.
Featured Terms
Start with concepts that anchor how election security is explained, reported, and debated.
Electoral Management Body (EMB)
The organization tasked under electoral law with the responsibility for the conduct of elections. The EMB in most countries consists either of an inde...
Vote by Mail
Also: all-mail voting
Method of casting ballots by which eligible voters are mailed ballots and information packets by the local jurisdiction. Voters can return their marke...
Undervote
Also: Undervotes
Occurs when the number of choices selected by a voter in a contest is less than the maximum number allowed for that contest or when no selection is ma...
Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail
Also: VVPAT
In DRE systems, a paper document containing evidence of a voter’s contest selections that they can check before officially casting the ballot....
Cast Ballot
Also: voted ballot
A ballot has been deposited by the voter in the ballot box, mailbox, drop box or electronically submitted for tabulation....
False Flag
A covert operation designed to deceive; the deception creates the appearance of a particular party, group, or nation being responsible for some activi...
Voter Registration System
A distributed or centralized system that permits the collection, storage, editing, deletion, and reporting of voter records. The Help America Vote Act...
Hash Function
A function that maps a bit string of arbitrary length to a fixed-length bit string. Approved hash functions satisfy the following properties: 1. (one-...
Presidential Policy Directive 8 (ppd-8)
[Presidential Directive that] facilitates an integrated, all-of-Nation approach to national preparedness for the threats that pose the greatest risk t...
Troll Farm
An organization whose members or employees engage in online behavior that is meant to disrupt, distract, cause conflict, and influence conversations/b...
Election Fraud
The misrepresentation or alteration of the true results of an election....
Hostile Act
An action or attempted action taken by an adversary that is designed to harm, disrupt, or compromise the security, integrity, or availability of syste...