As the above analysis has shown, the CoE standards document is flawed. The inconsistency, incompleteness, over- and under-specification, redundancy and repetition that have been demonstrated could lead to `bad' systems being certified against these requirements, and/or `good' systems failing. These flaws were identified using standard software engineering practices, and their presence indicates inadequate involvement of experts in the development of the document.
E-voting systems are computer systems, and so the successful development of standards for e-voting systems will require the input of experts in technology, science, engineering and mathematics.
In the explanatory memorandum that accompanies the standards, the possibility is raised that ``[t]he CoE may look again at this issue two years after the adoption of this recommendation...''. This paper is therefore timely, since this September will see the second anniversary of the adoption of the recommendation.
We recommend that the committee takes advantage of the experience of experts for the restructuring and maintenance of their standards document. If a broadly applicable document were developed, it could be genuinely useful both to governments procuring e-voting systems, and to vendors developing and maintaining such systems.