Summary

Section 251 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), 42 U.S.C. sect. 15401, authorizes the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to provide payments to states for a variety of enumerated purposes, including procurement of HAVA-compliant voting systems to improve the administration of federal elections. HAVA leaves to the states what type of voting equipment the individual states should use, as long as the equipment complies with HAVA. At issue in this decision is whether under section 251 of HAVA a state may fund the replacement of HAVA-compliant voting systems, originally purchased with HAVA funds, with a different kind of HAVA-compliant voting system. We conclude that EAC's proposed policy to permit such expenses is within EAC's discretion in its exercise of statutory authority under HAVA.