California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson is hosting a conference involving state and federal election officials and technology experts to “collaborate on the establishment of best practices to define how states should test voting systems.” The conference is scheduled for November 28 and 29 in Sacramento. The organization of the conference seems to have cross-cutting discussions: panels on the organizations and levels of government involved in voting system testing, and then some panels on specific issues associated with voting system testing.

Here is the invitation and preliminary panelist list. It looks like an exciting opportunity for those interested in the topic of testing voting systems. I’m going to participate in a session on November 29 titled “Security/Paper Trails/Accountability”, with William A. Arbaugh (University of Maryland), David L. Dill (Stanford University), Lillie Coney (Electronic Privacy Technology Project), and Henry Brady (University of California, Berkeley). That looks like an interesting group to have involved in this discussion, and I anticipate a lively and informative session.