United States Election Assistance Commission 1225 New York Avenue N.W. - Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20005

EAC issues FY 2005 Annual Report
Outlines activities and goals for 2006

WASHINGTON – The U.S Election Assistance Commission (EAC) today issued its Fiscal Year 2005 Annual Report, which outlines activities the commission undertook to assist states in their efforts to comply with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. The report is available at www.eac.gov.

“In 2005, our top priority was to help election officials throughout the country by providing funding, guidance and research in preparation for the next election cycle,” said EAC Chairman Paul DeGregorio. “As part of that effort, EAC also adopted Voluntary Voting System Guidelines and took the initial steps to get the national certification program up and running.

“Election officials and EAC have come a long way in a short amount of time to improve election administration, and I am confident that we will continue working together to successfully reach the goals of HAVA.”

The annual report covers guidance and assistance EAC issued to states, which includes information about implementing the statewide voter registration lists, provisional voting and complying with Section 301(a) of HAVA. In FY 2005, EAC distributed $927,241,903 in HAVA funds to 25 states, and the report includes procedures for recordkeeping, reporting, and auditing HAVA funds as well as the establishment of an inspector general’s office.

The report includes the findings from several research projects and clearinghouse activities conducted in 2005 such as the 2004 Election Day Survey and the Impact of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. It also outlined clearinghouse projects initiated in 2005, including the Legal Resources Clearinghouse, Election Management Guidelines, Vote Counts and Recounts, and Best Practices for Recruiting, Training and Retaining Poll Workers.

Goals for 2006 include establishing the national voting system certification program, conducting research and studies about election administration issues, developing future iterations of the voting system guidelines, and continuing to offer guidance, research findings and assistance to states.

EAC is an independent, bipartisan commission created by HAVA. It is charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, implementing election administration improvements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines and developing a national certification program for voting systems. The commission also serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration.

The four EAC commissioners are Paul DeGregorio, chairman; Ray Martinez III, vice chairman; Donetta Davidson; and Gracia Hillman.