2 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

4 PUBLIC MEETING

8 TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2005

10 COMMENCING AT 10:00 a.m.

16 Commissioners Present:

18 Chair Gracia Hillman

20 Vice-Chair Paul DeGregorio

22 Commissioner Ray Martinez

24 Commissioner DeForest Soaries

1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 CHAIR HILLMAN: Good morning. This is

3 a meeting of the United States Election

4 Assistance Commission.

5 And before we begin, may I ask

6 that everybody please turn off your cell

7 phones, pagers, any other electronic device

8 that will whistle, beep, sing, play music

9 or otherwise might distract from the

10 proceeding.

11 Please join me in a pledge of

12 allegiance.

13 (Whereupon, the pledge of allegiance

14 was given.)

15 CHAIR HILLMAN: We'll have a roll call

16 of members present.

17 MS. THOMPSON: Commissioners, please

18 respond by here or present when I call your

19 name. Chair Gracia Hillman.

20 CHAIR HILLMAN: Here.

21 MS. THOMPSON: Vice-Chairman Paul

22 DeGregorio.

23 CHAIRMAN DEGREGORIO: Here.

24 MS. THOMPSON: Commissioner Buster

1 Soaries.

2 COMMISSIONER SOARIES: Present.

3 MS. THOMPSON: Commissioner Ray

4 Martinez.

5 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Here.

6 MS. THOMPSON: Madam Chair, your board

7 is present and you have a quorum.

8 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you so much.

9 We have before us the agenda.

10 And, Commissioners, if we are efficient in

11 our time, we probably will conclude this

12 meeting by 11:30 this morning. It would be

13 appropriate to adopt the agenda if all

14 appears in order.

15 COMMISSIONER SOARIES: So moved, Madam

16 Chair.

17 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Second.

18 CHAIR HILLMAN: All in favor?

19 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Aye.

20 VICE-CHAIRMAN DeGREGORIO: Aye.

21 COMMISSIONER SOARIES: Aye.

22 CHAIR HILLMAN: Aye.

23 So approved. The agenda has been

24 adopted.

1 Next, the March 22, 2005 public

2 meeting which was held in Washington, D.C.

3 Are there any corrections or notations to

4 the minutes?

5 Hearing none, approval would be in

6 order.

7 VICE-CHAIRMAN DeGREGORIO: So moved.

8 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Second.

9 CHAIR HILLMAN: The minutes stand to be

10 approved. All in favor.

11 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Aye.

12 VICE-CHAIRMAN DeGREGORIO: Aye.

13 COMMISSIONER SOARIES: Aye.

14 CHAIR HILLMAN: Okay. We have two

15 reports for this morning. The first report

16 will be on the Title II requirements

17 payments and an update on where we are.

18 And I will call on the Vice-Chairman, Mr.

19 DeGregorio.

20 VICE-CHAIRMAN DeGREGORIO: Thank you,

21 madam Chair. I have this opportunity to

22 talk about the significant work that this

23 Commission has done in regard to processing

24 the payments to the states.

1 And I do have to say that we are

2 very fortunate that Peggy Simms, our

3 staffer who handles these issues for us,

4 continues to do an excellent job in

5 responding to the requests and the needs

6 for the states and territories.

7 And also Commissioner Martinez,

8 who also works very hard in this effort to

9 make sure that we are fulfilling the

10 requirements under HAVA to ensure the

11 integrity of this process, but also to make

12 sure that we are expediting our work to get

13 the funding to the states.

14 Madam Chair, the EAC has processed

15 over $152 million in HAVA requirements

16 payments to five states in the months since

17 our last report. These payments went to

18 Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, South Dakota

19 and Texas.

20 The payments comprise 4.1 million

21 from funds appropriated in fiscal year 2003

22 and more than 148 million from funds

23 appropriated in fiscal year 2004.

24 The latest disbursements bring the

1 total requirements payments processed by

2 the EAC to date to more than 1.9 billion to

3 52 states and territories. This is out of

4 the more than 2.3 billion appropriated for

5 this purpose in fiscal years 2003 and 2004.

6 All 52 of these states have

7 received the 2003 requirements payments,

8 totalling almost $770 million. 44 of these

9 also received their full 2004 requirements

10 payments and two states received partial

11 2004 payments, totalling over $1.1 billion.

12 Madam Chair, this leaves just over

13 449 million to be disbursed to 11 states

14 from fiscal year '03 and '04 funds. And it

15 represents just 60 million in 2003 funds

16 and 389 million in 2004 funds.

17 Only three states and territories

18 have not received any requirements payments

19 to date; that's Alaska, Guam and New York.

20 Certifications from Alaska and Guam are

21 pending for over $6 million in payments.

22 Alaska has filed a statement of

23 certification for 2003. And the EAC, Madam

24 Chair, is waiting for the conclusion of a

1 30-day Federal Register publication before

2 we process the certification, which we

3 expect to do between now and our next

4 meeting.

5 Guam needs to file its HAVA

6 compliant administrative procedures as a

7 prerequisite to receiving the 2003 and 2004

8 payments. We expect to receive that

9 soon.

10 Madam Chair, it is disappointing

11 that New York has not yet filed a

12 certification for any of its over $153

13 million in requirements payments. The

14 state legislature recently appropriated the

15 required 5% match and passed legislation.

16 However, we do not have a certification

17 from the State of New York as of yet, nor

18 are there any indications we're going to

19 get one in the near future.

20 CHAIR HILLMAN: Excuse me one second.

21 (Off-the-record discussion held.)

22 VICE-CHAIRMAN DeGREGORIO: The

23 remaining outstanding balance of over 290

24 million represents 2004 requirements

1 payments that have not been claimed by nine

2 states, Alaska, California, Delaware,

3 Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota,

4 Oregon and Texas.

5 Michigan and Texas, which

6 requested and received partial 2004

7 payments, based on a partial 5% match, plan

8 to certify for the remaining 2000 funds

9 once their states have appropriated the

10 remainder of the 5% match. Texas expects

11 to do so shortly.

12 There are indications, Madam

13 Chair, that California's new Secretary of

14 State may approach the EAC about its fiscal

15 year '04 requirements payments shortly.

16 Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota and

17 Oregon are seeking the required 5% match.

18 North Dakota expects to have its match

19 within two weeks.

20 So Madam Chair, the states that

21 have not received their funding seem to be

22 moving in a direction of sending to us

23 their information that's required to

24 receive these payments.

1 We certainly, from the very

2 beginning of this Commission, have taken

3 our role here seriously and have encouraged

4 the states to move forward to submit their

5 certifications to us.

6 Commissioner Martinez and I have

7 worked as a committee of two to try to

8 resolve some issues, including allowing

9 partial match, so that there could be

10 partial payments to states so that election

11 reform in the states could move forward and

12 that the state plans that they have

13 submitted to us can be implemented. And

14 you're certainly seeing changes to the

15 state plans that are being given to us.

16 But I do have to say that, and

17 recognize Commissioner Martinez again for

18 his hard work and due diligence to help us

19 get through the process on an expedited

20 manner to serve the states and serve the

21 voters of the states by sending this money

22 out as quickly as possible.

23 And I'd like to turn to

24 Commissioner Martinez for any comments he

1 may have about this process and where we

2 are.

3 CHAIR HILLMAN: Commissioner Martinez,

4 one second. I realize that I've been asked

5 to take a break because the technology at

6 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

7 is not working.

8 At any rate, we will do so at the

9 conclusion of this report. And I apologize

10 to anybody who is inconvenienced by the

11 transcription screen not working properly.

12 But at the conclusion of this report, we

13 will break so that that can be taken care

14 of.

15 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Thank you,

16 Madam Chair. I will simply say very

17 quickly, by way of summation, and I

18 appreciate the words of support from the

19 Vice-Chair, who has been equally as

20 diligent in making sure that the states

21 receive their money in a timely basis.

22 By way of summation, of the 2.8 --

23 $2.3 billion that were appropriated by

24 Congress for distribution under Title II of

1 the Help America Vote Act, of the 2.3

2 billion that was appropriated by Congress

3 under HAVA, there remains approximately

4 $449 million yet to be distributed, so

5 almost half a billion dollars.

6 Yet it is safe to say, Madam Chair

7 and fellow Commissioners that, as the

8 Vice-Chair has reported, each state is

9 actively engaged at this point in trying to

10 do their own due diligence, at least by and

11 large, to pull down the remaining funds.

12 A good bulk of the remaining funds

13 is FY04 Title II funds that have not gone

14 to several states, as the Vice-Chair

15 reported. We have -- we've been in contact

16 with every one of those states to ensure

17 that they either get us their state plan

18 submitted for '04, to get us their

19 administrative complaint procedures

20 submitted, or whatever the case may be.

21 And in terms of those states that

22 have not pulled down either '03 or '04

23 requirements payments, again, we are in

24 contact to try to encourage them and feel

1 like those states are at least moving, if

2 not aggressively, then certainly I think

3 making some movement towards pulling down

4 the funds, including -- although, again,

5 we're disappointed that a large state like

6 New York has not pulled down any of their

7 Title II funding, apparently the

8 legislature is making progress in

9 appropriating their state match so that

10 they can pull down the funds.

11 So we are encouraged by these

12 developments and we simply want to say to

13 all the states that we are ready to work

14 and to do our due diligence and to get this

15 money out as quickly as possible. Thank

16 you, Madam Chair.

17 CHAIR HILLMAN: Are there questions?

18 COMMISSIONER SOARIES: I have none.

19 CHAIR HILLMAN: I do just have a

20 question. For this moment, we always refer

21 to the territories as being described as

22 states for the purpose of this report. But

23 I'll flip it around and say, do I

24 understand correctly that the three

1 territories that have not drawn down 2003

2 and 2004 are Alaska, Guam and New York? Is

3 that right, those are the territories? I'm

4 being facetious, but those are the three?

5 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: There is one

6 U.S. territory in that group.

7 CHAIR HILLMAN: But those are the

8 three?

9 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Those are the

10 three state -- and again, states because

11 HAVA refers to states and territories and

12 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the

13 District of Columbia as states.

14 But yes, three states have not

15 pulled down either their '03 or their '04

16 requirements payments under Title II and

17 those are the three that represent that

18 category.

19 CHAIR HILLMAN: All right. Thank you

20 very much for the report. We will take

21 what I hope will be a very short break to

22 get technology fixed.

23 (Proceedings briefly interrupted.)

24 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you. The next

1 report I will give, which is an update on

2 the executive director's search.

3 As we know, the Help America Vote

4 Act requires that -- well, you know, I

5 apologize to anybody who needs signing.

6 This technology was in lieu of signing for

7 people who need that assistance. Thank you

8 for the microphones. But we have to

9 proceed with our meeting and we will do the

10 best we can.

11 Is there anybody here

12 inconvenienced by not having signing

13 services available? Okay. Good. Thank

14 you.

15 The Help America Vote Act requires

16 that the Commission receive recommendations

17 of candidates for the position of Executive

18 Director from its Board of Advisors and its

19 Standards Board; that is a process that has

20 been underway for most of 2005.

21 We have received a report from the

22 Search Committee of the Board of Advisors.

23 We are waiting for a report from the Search

24 Committee of the Standards Board.

1 We have had a total of 12

2 applicants. As the Election Assistance

3 Commission, we Commissioners are very

4 hopeful that we will be able to conclude

5 this process within the next few days, next

6 couple of weeks. It really depends on when

7 we get a report from the Standards Board.

8 And that is the update. Are there

9 any questions? Okay. Thank you.

10 For this morning's meeting we have