# Technical Guidelines Development Committee The federal advisory committee that **writes** the [[Voluntary Voting System Guidelines]], created by the [[Help America Vote Act]] and chaired ex officio by the director of the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]]. Its fifteen members are drawn from the EAC's Standards Board and Board of Advisors, the Access Board, NIST and the engineering and accessibility communities. The division of labour is the thing to hold onto: **the TGDC recommends and the [[Election Assistance Commission]] adopts.** A recommendation carries no legal force until three commissioners vote for it. That division is what froze the standard. The TGDC circulated a **draft VVSG 2.1 for member review in June 2025** and continued meeting through that summer; a committee vacancy was noticed in the *Federal Register* in March 2026. None of that activity can produce a standard, because since **July 2026 the EAC has had zero commissioners**, and adopting a new or modified VVSG is among the actions the EAC's own August 2026 guidance lists as requiring the three-member approval that 52 U.S.C. § 20928 demands. The drafting body is functioning; the adopting body does not exist. ## See also - [[How a Voting System Is Certified and Decertified]] - [[Voluntary Voting System Guidelines]] · [[Election Assistance Commission]] - [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] · [[Help America Vote Act]]