Voter Registration Access Proficiency Standards and Assessment (VRAPSA)

About the Proficiency Requirement

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed by the U.S. Congress, and signed into law by the President, in 2002. HAVA mandated that each state implement a statewide voter registration system which includes the name and registration information for each voter. Indiana was one of the first states to implement such a system in November of 2005. Also, in January of 2017 the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated American elections as part of the national critical infrastructure.

Statewide voter registration systems are electronic databases which are accessed by county and state election officials. As such, there are certain technical proficiencies which users need in order to access, use and protect the database. In order to respond to this need, the Governor of Indiana signed Public Law 71 on April 24, 2019. The following language in included in under IC 3-7-26.3-35 and in the Order signed by Secretary of State, Diego Morales, on March 21, 2023.

Background Checks and Basic IT Proficiency

In addition to the proficiencies outlined in the following section, it is also recommended that counties conduct background checks on personnel who interact with SVRS. For instance, Indiana law requires voting system and electronic poll book vendors to conduct background checks at least once a year on each individual employed or contracted by the vendor and who has access to the system (IC 3-5-2-2.7, 3-11-15-45(b), 3-11-18.1-12 (d)).

County Election Boards should be responsible for determining if individuals using SVRS have basic proficiencies in using information technology (IT). It is assumed that individual SVRS users would have such proficiency. While not formally a part of the proficiency assessment discussed in this proposal, a County Election Board may request a twenty-five (25) question basic IT proficiencies test should they believe employees would benefit from such an assessment. VSTOP can provide this basic IT test to any user in an online format.

Proficiencies

There are three proficiency areas which are needed for users who have access to the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) in Indiana. These are:

(a) Critical Infrastructure Protection and Cybersecurity
(b) Indiana election laws related to SVRS
(c) SVRS operations

Required Proficiency Level

All individuals who access the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) must be assessed for proficiency per Indiana Law (IC 3-7-26.3-35). Individuals must obtain an 80% pass rate on each of the three Modules. Each Module Assessment Quiz is 15 questions. In order to reach 80%, one must answer 12 of the 15 questions correctly. Questions for each Module are randomly selected from a pool of questions. The Module Assessment Quizzes may be taken as many times as necessary in order to reach 80% proficiency.