Commission Votes to Release All Documents Provided to Congress

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) has voted to release more than 40,000 pages of documents provided in response to requests for information from U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) and U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren (CA-16). Congressional and EAC correspondence are available at www.eac.gov. The documents are available on four compact discs by calling toll free at 866-747-1471 or sending a request to HAVAinfo@eac.gov.

“I am proud of our staff, and I believe we have conducted ourselves ethically. That is why we are making all of this information available to the public,” said EAC Chair Donetta Davidson. “There has been a lot of interest about how the commission makes its decisions regarding editing and adopting reports, and this information will shed light on that process.

“We look forward to answering questions about these documents and working with Congress to make sure election officials have the tools they need to conduct accurate, accessible, and secure elections.”

Many of these documents are already available on EAC’s website. However, the information provided also includes EAC staff communications and draft documents created internally and by contractors. These communications and documents generally would not be released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). EAC has redacted personal information from these documents, including home addresses, telephone numbers, personal e-mail addresses, personal financial information, social security numbers, and tax identification numbers.

Senator Feinstein submitted 20 questions regarding the process in which the voter identification project and the vote fraud and voter intimidation project were managed, edited, and adopted. EAC’s response included supporting documentation.

Representative Lofgren requested emails, memos, and documents related to the data, content, and methodology of the voter identification or voting fraud and voter intimidation studies. She also requested memos, emails and documents related to the application of several administrative laws to the EAC, specifically FOIA, the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

In April, EAC Chair Davidson, with unanimous commission support, issued a formal request to the commission’s inspector general to review EAC contracting procedures, including the voter identification and vote fraud and voter intimidation research projects. The review is underway. Chair Davidson requested the review after the process surrounding these projects was challenged, noting that “it was appropriate and necessary.”

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, accrediting voting system test laboratories and certifying voting equipment and serving as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration. The four EAC commissioners are Donetta Davidson, chair; Rosemary Rodriguez, vice chair; Caroline Hunter; and Gracia Hillman.

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