U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
PUBLIC
HEARING
Tuesday, April
26, 2005
Commencing at
12:30 p.m.
Commissioners Present:
Chair Gracia Hillman
Vice-Chair Paul DeGregorio
Commissioner Ray Martinez
Commissioner DeForest Soaries
2
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 CHAIR HILLMAN: This hearing will get
3 organized, please, so we can get started.
4 I'm asking that all members of the audience
5 please be certain to turn off your cell
6 phones, pagers, any other electronic
device
7 that might distract from the proceedings
of
8 this hearing.
9 Thank you. This is a public
10 hearing of the United States Election
11 Assistance Commission. The purpose of the
12 hearing is to receive testimony and
13 comments on proposed voluntary guidance
14 that the Election Assistance Commission
has
15 issued on the implementation of Statewide
16 Voter Registration Lists.
17 We have two panels. And at the
18 conclusion of the second panel, we have
19 four members of the public who have
20 requested to testify at the third
session.
21 And we will get to that at the conclusion
22
of our second panel.
23 The first panel is
assembled. It
24 is a presentation of the Voluntary
3
1 Guidelines. The Commission did assemble a
2 working group to assist us in the
3 preparation of the proposed voluntary
4 guidance.
And Commissioner Martinez,
5 before we get to the hearing, do you have
6 any summary or comment about the working
7 group?
8 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Thank you,
9 Madam Chair. And I will -- I know that our
10 first panel, including our general
counsel
11 and our two panelists will address in
more
12 detail the working group that was
13 assembled.
14 But as a quick start to this
15
particular hearing, we did solicit the
16 comments of and the participation of a 15
17 or so election, state and local election
18 administrators from around the country
who
19 will have a direct or who had the direct
20 responsibility of implementing these
21 Statewide Voter Registration Databases.
22 And we did that, as our counsel will
23 explain, I'm sure, by going to the
chairs,
24 the respective chairs of our two
statutory
4
1 advisory boards, the Board of Advisors
and
2 the Standards Board, and asking for them
to
3 assemble members from their respective
4 statutory boards to contribute folks to
5 comprise this 15 or so member working
group
6 that we worked with over a couple of days
7 and have been in communication with in
8 developing the draft guidance.
9 So that sort of sets the stage
if
10 you will, Madam Chair, and I'm sure the
11 panelists will expand upon that. Thank
12 you.
13 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you very much.
14 I'll introduce the panelists. You will
15 follow, please, according to the schedule
16 and then we will pose questions after the
17 third panel has concluded.
18 Juliet Thompson, who is General
19 Counsel for the Election Assistance
20 Commission. Michael Sciortino, Director of
21 the Mahoning County Board of Elections in
22 Ohio.
And John Lindback, Director of
23 Elections for the State of Oregon.
24 Welcome. And thank you for coming
5
1 to join us. Miss Thompson.
2 MS. THOMPSON: Thank you, Madam Chair
3 and members of the commission, for this
4 opportunity to give you a little bit of
5 information as to the why and how of this
6 policy guidance that is being issued on
7 Statewide Voter Registration Lists.
8 I will leave to my co-panelists
9 the what of what we have provided and
what
10 we will be talking about here today.
11 Let me start with the legal
12 requirements with regard to Statewide
Voter
13 Registration Lists and the guidance that
is
14 required by the EAC.
15 Section 311 of the Help America
16
Vote Act 2002 requires that the Commission
17 issue guidance on topics that are
discussed
18 Title III. As many of you know, that
19 includes Statewide Voter Registration
20 Lists.
But also includes things such as
21 Provisional Voting, Voting Equipment, in
22 Section 301, as well as Voter Information
23 and Voter Identification.
24 Today, we're here to focus on
6
1 Statewide Voter Registration Lists, a
2 portion of the Help America Vote Act
which
3 is covered in Section 303(a). There
4 Congress set forth a mandate that each
5 state should develop and implement a
6 single, uniformed, official centralized,
7 interactive, computerized Statewide Voter
8 registration list that is defined,
9 maintained and administered at the state
10 level.
And it is this that we attempted to
11 clarify and explain and assist the states
12
with developing a policy around what that
13 means.
14 Section 312 really tells us the
15 how of this process, how is it that we
are
16 supposed to develop this guidance. How is
17 it that we are supposed to pose it to the
18 public and how is that we are to make it
19 final.
20 There is a 4-step process, the
21 first of which is publication, the notice
22 of the proposed recommendations in the
23 Federal Register. That was done on April
24 18th, with a comment period being open
7
1 until May 25th.
2 But let's back up for just a
3 moment and talk about how did we actually
4 develop the guidance that was published
in
5 the Federal Register on April 18th.
6 EAC started this process by
7 holding a public meeting in which it
8 solicited four members, four states to
9 testify and give us information with
regard
10 to how they implemented and developed
11 Statewide Voter Registration Databases in
12 their states, many of which prior to the
13 2004 election. The states that were
14 represented there were Michigan,
Kentucky,
15 North Carolina and South Carolina. Each of
16 the representatives discussed their types
17 of voter registration lists; the
processes
18 that were undertaken to develop and
19 implement those systems; the problems
that
20 they encountered along the way, as well
as
21 the maintenance and upgrade issues that
22 they have faced since the implementation
of
23 those systems.
24 This meeting was the kick-off of
8
1 the guidance develop process, an
2 information gathering, if you will. And
3 the things that came out of that
discussion
4 were a few facts that were fairly
5 self-evident. Number 1,
6 states were already well underway in the
7 process of planning for, developing and
8 implementing Statewide Voter Registration
9 Lists.
10 Second, Statewide Voter
11 Registration Lists are complex,
12 computerized systems that require
13 addressing various policy concerns in
order
14 to arrive at a plan for meeting the HAVA
15 requirements.
16 Number 3: There are technical
17 considerations that will affect the
18 development continued operation and
upgrade
19
of these Statewide Voter Registration
20 Lists.
21 And last and fairly importantly,
22 maybe even mostly importantly, the EAC
must
23 act quickly if it was to assist the
states
24 with this process.
9
1 In that mindset, EAC contracted
2 with the National Academies of Science to
3 impanel a working group, a group that was
4 comprised of 15 members, state and local
5 election officials who were chosen by the
6 respective board of advisors and
Standards
7
Board of the EAC, as well as technical
8 advisors, if you will, that were provided
9 by the National Academies of Science.
10 This group met for two
days. And
11 their task was really two-fold. First, to
12 identify the concerns, issues or
problems;
13 and secondly, to assist us with
identifying
14 solutions to those problems.
15 And they did a yeoman's task.
16 They really worked very hard during those
17 two days.
And I will leave to my
18 colleagues at the table a further
19 description of exactly what their
20 activities were.
21 But at the end of that 2-day
22 process, EAC had the questions, and for
the
23 most part the answers to those questions
24 that would formulate the guidance that
was
10
1 proposed.
2 The staff from the EAC took that
3 direction from the working group and
4 crafted it into a document, which was
then
5 circulated back to the working group
6 members for their consideration to assure
7 that we had accurately captured their
8
thoughts and the processes of the 2-day
9 meeting.
10 That proposed guidance was, as I
11 said earlier, published in the Federal
12 Register on April 18th, in compliance
with
13 Section 312 and the first part of the
14 process of finally adopting guidance on
15 this issue. Comments will be taken
16 until May 25th. And the reason that we are
17 here today is to complete the second part
18 of that statutory requirement in 312, and
19 that is to hold -- I'm sorry -- the third
20 part of that statutory requirement, and
21
that is to hold a public hearing on the
22 record in which members of the public are
23 given the opportunity to comment on the
24 record as to the appropriateness of the
11
1 guidance.
2 And then the last and final
3 portion of the statutory requirement is
to
4 publish the final recommendations in the
5 Federal Register. After we have had the
6 opportunity to review the comments that
are
7 due in by May 25th, the EAC will consider
8 those comments, will address them,
9 incorporate them if appropriate, and
10 publish the final guidance in the Federal
11 Register.
12 Now, I do want to make one note
before
13 I conclude my remarks. And that is that I
14 did mention that there were technical
15 issues that needed to be addressed with
16 regard to upgrade and maintenance of
these
17 Statewide Voter Registration Lists.
18 EAC has already planned to have
a
19 meeting in May; again, we are contracting
20 with the National Academies of Science to
21 impanel a working group to discuss the
22 technical issues that go with the
23 technology, as we have coined it refresh,
24 the upgrade, the maintenance, the
12
1
day-to-day operations of these systems.
2 With that, Commissioners, my remarks
3 are concluded.
4 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you, very much.
5 Mr. Sciortino.
6 MR. SCIORTINO: Madam Chair Hillman,
7 Commissioners Martinez, deGregorio and
8 Soaries, my name is Michael
Sciortino. I'm
9 Director of Mahoning County Board of
10 Elections, located in Youngstown,
Ohio. I
11 am currently serving as chair of the EAC
12 Standards Board Executive Committee.
13 Let me first say that it is
truly
14 an honor to be here before you today,
15 regarding the development of HAVA
Statewide
16 Voter Registration Database.
17 The guidance before you is
18 basically broken down into three
19 categories: Introduction, scope and
20 definitions and guidance on Statewide
Voter
21 Registration Lists.
22 My testimony will focus on the
23 background and authority of the EAC in
24 developing guidance, a synopsis of the
13
1 thought processes that went into the
scope
2 and definition section and some comment
on
3 Section 3.
4 My colleague, John Lindback,
5 Oregon State Election Director and
6 Co-Executive Board and Working Group
member
7
will cover Section 3 in greater detail.
8 To begin with, the Help America
9 Vote Act requires the chief election
10 official in each state to implement a
11 single, uniform, official, centralized,
12 interactive computerized Statewide Voter
13 Registration List. That list is to be
14 defined, maintained and administered at
the
15 state level and must contain the name and
16 registration information of every legally
17 registered voter in the state.
18 The details of implementing
these
19 Voter Registration Lists were left to the
20 states; however, Congress as you know,
21 empowered the EAC to issue voluntary
22 guidelines on this issue.
23 HAVA makes it very clear for the
24
EAC to develop guidance, so establishing a
14
1 starting point and framework for guidance
2 development was paramount.
3 As you know, Commissioner Martinez
4 acted as the EAC's contact on this
project.
5 After some preliminary discussions with
6 Commissioner Martinez, it was decided
that
7 a working group made of election
officials,
8 scientists from the National Academy of
9 Sciences and computer experts would be
the
10 best way to assemble and experience the
11 knowledge that would go into our
guidance.
12 I would like to read the names
13 into the record so that these individuals
14 and advisors be recognized for their hard
15 work that went into developing the
16 voluntary guidance that are before you
17 today.
18 Sarah Ball Johnson, Executive
19 Director, State Board of Elections in
20 Kentucky.
Louie Bernard, Clerk of Court,
21 Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. David
22 Caldwell, Data Processing Manager for
23 Rebecca Vigil-Giron, Secretary of State
of
24 New Mexico.
15
1 Bill Campbell, City Clerk, City
of
2 Woburn, Massachusetts. Kathleen DeWolfe,
3 Director Elections Campaign and Finance for
4 Deborah Markowitz, Secretary of State of
5 Vermont.
John Lindback, Director of
6 Elections in Oregon.
7 Chris Nelson, Secretary of
State,
8 South Dakota. Peggy Nighswonger, State
9 Elections Director, Wyoming. Todd Rokita,
10 Secretary of State, Indiana. Sue
11 Sautermeister, Municipal Election
12 Commissioner, City of Ridgeland.
13 Christopher Thomas, Director of
14 Elections, Michigan. Hans von Spakovsky,
15 Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General
16 United States Department of Justice.
17 Dr. Randall Hollinger
(phonetic),
18 Director AVN, VA Driver Systems. Pamela
19 Richard Walker (phonetic), Director
Federal
20 Government Affairs AA, MBA Driver
Systems.
21
Herb Lynn, Senior Scientist, National
22 Academy of Sciences. And Corey Kakusa
23 (phonetic), Senior Associate, Calver
24 Associates, Incorporated.
16
1 Upon assembling in Washington to
2 formulate the guidance, it was clear from
3 the initial comments that this guidance
4 should in no way punish the pioneer
states
5