1

4 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

5 PUBLIC MEETING

7 Taken at 1225 NEW YORK AVENUE

8 NORTHWEST, SUITE 1100

9 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20037

11 Taken on the date of:

12 TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2005

21 Start time: 10:00 o'clock, a.m.

22 Taken by: JACKIE SMITH, a Court Reporter

1 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION:

2 Gracia Hillman, Chairman

3 Paul DeGregorio, Vice-Chair

4 Ray Martinez III, Commissioner

5 Juliet Thompson, Legal Counsel

6 Carol Pacquette, Interim Director

7 SPEAKERS:

8 Margaret Sims, Research Specialist, EAC

9 Karen Lynn-Dyson, Research Manager, EAC

10 Kim Brace, Election Data Services

11 Al Ater, Asst. Secretary of State,

12 Louisiana

13 Michael Kerr, ITAA

14 Joe Hazeltine, Wyle Laboratories

15 - 0 -

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

2 CHAIR HILLMAN: Good morning. This

3 meeting of the United States Election Assistance

4 Commission will come to order.

5 If you would all stand and join me in, "The

6 Pledge of Allegiance."

7 (The Pledge of Allegiance.)

8 CHAIR HILLMAN: If I could remind

9 everyone, please, to turn off your pagers, cell

10 phones, and any other devices that would make

11 noise and distract from our meeting this

12 morning.

13 If we could have roll call, please.

14 MS. THOMPSON: Members, please

15 respond as I all your names: Chair Hillman?

16 CHAIR HILLMAN: Here.

17 MS. THOMPSON: Vice-Chair DeGregorio?

18 CHAIR HILLMAN: Here.

19 MS. THOMPSON: Ray Martinez?

20 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Here.

21 MS. THOMPSON: Madam Chair, all three

22 members are present.

1 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you. We have

2 before us the agenda for today's meeting. And

3 with your concurrence, I would like to place the

4 update on the executive director search to come

5 immediately after adoption of the agenda.

6 Are there any other changes or adjustments?

7 Okay, if not, we have our agenda, and adoption

8 would be in order.

9 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: So moved,

10 Madam Chair.

11 VICE-CHAIR DEGREGORIO: Second.

12 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you. As we

13 know, as we all know, we have been working for

14 quite awhile to go through the process of a

15 recruitment search and selection of executive

16 director.

17 The Help America Vote Act instructs the

18 Election Assistance Commission to receive

19 recommendations from both the Board of Advisors

20 and the Standards Board. They, each of those

21 boards, put together its own search committee.

22 Those committees then do their work, and

1 presented to us the required, minimum three

2 recommendations.

3 Following that, we did our interview. And

4 I am very pleased to announce, as we did on

5 Friday --

6 Okay, yes. Where is it coming from? Where

7 are the technicians? There. You're okay. All

8 right. It is just a little startling, so

9 minimize the startle factor.

10 As we did on Friday, we announced that we

11 have hired Thomas Wilke to be the Election

12 Assistance Commission's first Executive

13 Director. Tom is with us this morning, and I

14 would ask that you stand, and so we can

15 acknowledge you. Congratulations, and welcome

16 on board.

17 Tom has a very long and illustrious career

18 in election administration, starting out as a

19 local election official, and working his was up

20 through to serving as Executive Director of the

21 New York State Board of Elections, very active

22 with the National Association of State Election

1 Directors, and many other associations. And

2 we're very pleased and fortunate to have Tom on

3 board. And he will begin, officially, full

4 time, on June 20, 2005. This year, 2005.

5 Commissioners.

6 VICE-CHAIR DEGREGORIO: Thank you,

7 Madam Chair.

8 I would also like to publicly congratulate

9 Tom Wilke on his selection as Executive

10 Director.

11 As the Chair pointed out, we had a very

12 good process to determine who we were going to

13 select for this very important position with the

14 Election Commission, and it was a very good

15 process that we went through. Certainly, the

16 Advisory Committee and the Standards Board did

17 its due diligence, and we did ours, and came up

18 with the best person we could possibly find in

19 the United States.

20 And Tom Wilke is the person that not only

21 served as a local election official, but a state

22 election official. He is well known throughout

1 the country, and he is a person of great

2 integrity, great knowledge, and I know will be a

3 great asset to this Commission, and to the

4 efforts for election reform at the federal level

5 in the United States.

6 So I want to take this opportunity publicly

7 to congratulate Tom, and know that we welcome

8 you, and look forward to your starting date.

9 CHAIR HILLMAN: Commissioner

10 Martinez.

11 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Thank you,

12 Madam Chair.

13 I, too, want to add my sincere

14 congratulations to Tom for this appointment.

15 Obviously, Tom's background is well known as

16 very experienced and very respected, a former

17 local and state election director, but I think

18 perhaps even more important to me is that for

19 the past 17 or 18 months, and really beyond

20 that, even before I started my term as a

21 Commissioner, Tom has been available to lend his

22 expertise to all of us, quite frankly. And I am

1 deeply appreciative that Tom helps me.

2 There comes the startle factor. There must

3 be a short somewhere.

4 Tom has helped me to understand the issues

5 from the perspective of the election

6 administrator. I mean, it is so valuable for

7 us, as Commissioners, to get educated and to

8 hear what impact our decisions have from every

9 perspective.

10 Obviously, as a direct stakeholder,

11 election administrators, I think, are very

12 fortunate to have somebody of Tom's caliber,

13 credibility, and experience, to be coming on to

14 the EAC to advise us not just on an informal

15 basis, and as a professional and a friend, but

16 now as a colleague.

17 So I look forward to his insight. I look

18 forward to his advice, and I look forward to his

19 leadership during his tenure here in the EAC.

20 Congratulations, Tom.

21 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you. If we can

22 now move our attention to the minutes from the

1 April 26, 2005 meeting. Are there any

2 corrections to the minutes? If not, it would be

3 in order to move for approval.

4 VICE-CHAIR DEGREGORIO: So moved.

5 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Second.

6 CHAIR HILLMAN: Okay. We're all in

7 favor.

8 We have a pretty full agenda this morning,

9 so we will get started right away with reports,

10 the reports. The first report --

11 If the mic's not on, if I'm not audible --

12 I know we're doing it for recording purposes as

13 well, so I hope that even if the mic's not on,

14 it's getting recorded.

15 First report, Title II requirements

16 payments update. Margaret Sims, a member of the

17 EAC staff.

18 MS. SIMS: Thank you, Madam Chair.

19 Good morning, everyone.

20 I'm happy to report that EAC has processed

21 over $11,000,000 in HAVA requirements payments

22 since our last meeting. These payments went to

1 two states, Alaska and North Dakota.

2 The latest disbursements bring the total

3 requirements payments processed by EAC to more

4 than 1.88 billion, of the more than 2.3

5 billion appropriated for this purpose in fiscal

6 years 2003 and 2004.

7 The payments have gone to 53 of the 55

8 states and territories eligible to receive them.

9 All 53 have received their 2003 requirements

10 payments. Forty-five of them also received

11 their full 2004 requirements payments, and two

12 of them received partial 2004 requirements

13 payments.

14 This leaves just over 437,000,000 to be

15 distributed to ten states from the fiscal year

16 '03 and '04 funds. Only two states have not

17 received any requirements payments, and those

18 states are Guam and New York. New York is

19 expected to file a certification -- New York is

20 expected to file certification soon for over

21 153,000,000, in 2003 and 2004 requirements

22 payments, now that the state has its

1 five-percent match, and its administrative

2 complaint procedures have been pre-cleared by

3 the Department of Justice.

4 Guam, certification for its 2003 and 2004

5 payments is pending. The territories still

6 needs to file its HAVA compliant administrative

7 complaint procedures with EAC. That is a

8 prerequisite to its receiving any requirements

9 payments.

10 California recently filed the certification

11 for its FY 2004 requirements payments, which is

12 worth over 16,000,000. This certification and

13 supplemental materials provided by the state are

14 under review right now.

15 The remaining outstanding balance of over

16 $112,000,000 represents the 2004 requirements

17 payments that have not yet been claimed by seven

18 states. The seven states are Alaska, Delaware,

19 Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, and Texas.

20 Michigan and Texas, which have received

21 partial 2004 requirements payments, based on a

22 partial five-percent match, plan to certify for

1 the remaining 2004 funds once their states have

2 appropriated the remaining five-percent match.

3 Alaska, Hawaii, and Oregon, are seeking the

4 required five-percent match. Alaska has

5 indicated they expect to have the match within a

6 couple weeks. Delaware and Montana cannot

7 certify for their 2004 requirements payments

8 until after they have submitted a state plan

9 addressing the use of those payments, and EAC

10 has published the plans in the Federal Register

11 for 30 days.

12 Are there any questions?

13 VICE-CHAIR DEGREGORIO: Yes, Peggy.

14 First, we met with Secretary of State Bruce

15 McPherson from California a few weeks ago. It

16 appears he called and he brought the

17 certification.

18 Where are we with that payment?

19 MS. SIMS: At this point, we're

20 reviewing some supplemental materials that the

21 state kindly provided. One was a statement

22 indicating how they intended to comply with the

1 state auditor's recommendations. Another is a

2 clarification of a budget that was submitted

3 with that statement to indicate how it compares

4 to the latest budget published in the state plan

5 for California.

6 The most recent supplemental material was

7 received yesterday, so we're right in the middle

8 of reviewing that. And, hopefully, we'll have

9 that done within 24 hours.

10 VICE-CHAIR DEGREGORIO: That is very

11 good.

12 Yesterday, I spoke at the swearing of the

13 new election board in St. Louis County. And I

14 was sitting next to the County Executive on one

15 side, and the Secretary of State Carnehan on the

16 other.

17 The County Executive made the point that he

18 doesn't want to get rid of punch cards, and he

19 has taken the position that the county is not

20 going to funds getting rid of the punch cards in

21 St. Louis County.

22 Missouri has accepted money, and in doing

1 so, they agreed to get rid of the punch cards

2 that exist throughout the State of Missouri.

3 About 60 percent of the voters vote on

4 punch cards. And St. Louis County takes the

5 position they are not going to get rid of punch

6 cards, and Missouri has accepted the funds.

7 What happens, what will happen next, if

8 they don't come into compliance with that? Will

9 the State of Missouri have to give back the

10 three or four million dollars that's allocated

11 to St. Louis County for this?

12 MS. SIMS: The state would be

13 required to a portion of the 102 money that is

14 to cover the total number of precincts that were

15 considered for the 102 funds. But aside from

16 that, HAVA does require that the state meet the

17 301 voting system standards on and after January

18 1, 2006. And that would apply, regardless of

19 whether or not they replace the punch card

20 systems.

21 VICE-CHAIR DEGREGORIO: If they don't

22 replace punch card and lever machines throughout

1 the country, any jurisdiction, if they have

2 accepted this 102 money or not, they still have

3 to comply with 301?

4 MS. SIMS: That's correct.

5 VICE-CHAIR DEGREGORIO: That is what

6 I told them, and I know the Secretary of State

7 would like for them to get rid of the punch

8 cards for them too. I think it would be a good

9 idea for them to do so too.

10 They are claiming they don't have funds. I

11 think this kind of battle is going on throughout

12 the country, in other jurisdictions, over

13 whether they have funds or not to replace the

14 punch cards, especially for jurisdictions who

15 have waited so long to do so.

16 So thank you for that.

17 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Peggy, I will

18 simply make an observation, perhaps not so much

19 a question.

20 I was in Houston yesterday participating in

21 a community forum that was sponsored, in part,

22 by Beverly Kaufman, the County Clerk of Harris

1 County, who oversees elections for Harris County

2 as well. There was a lot of discussion about

3 the transfer of money from the Federal

4 Government to the Secretary of State's Office in

5 Texas. And I think Texas is slated to get about

6 $132,000,000 in Title II payments, in addition

7 to the roughly 25,000,000 or so that was given

8 to Texas under Title I for machine replacement

9 and other things.

10 There was just a lot of talk about success

11 stories. One of the challenges that Harris

12 County, many jurisdictions around the country

13 have, for example, in complying with the very

14 important provision of the Voting Rights Act

15 Section 2303, which is the minority language

16 provisions, that if a jurisdiction has a certain

17 percentage of minority residents in that

18 jurisdiction, they have to provide ballots, in

19 Spanish, for example. And one of the challenges

20 has always been to find poll workers who speak

21 that language, who speaks Spanish or Vietnam,

22 and they reported success, this past November.

1 I think they had 90 percent of the poll stations

2 in Harris County had coverage with Spanish

3 language interpreters that could assist voters

4 who needed that assistance.

5 So I just wanted to report to you,

6 obviously, you are doing excellent work in

7 making sure that the EAC distributes this money

8 and works with the states so cooperatively to

9 make sure that the money is flowing. And I was

10 just fortunate, I think, to get some first hand

11 observations about some of the success stories

12 that, I think, will be coming out even more.

13 So as we move into the next selection

14 cycle, in terms of the use of these

15 unprecedented federal funds. Thanks for the

16 work you are doing.

17 MS. SIMS: Thank you.

18 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: It was a day

19 well spent.

20 CHAIR HILLMAN: Okay. Are there any

21 other questions for Ms. Sims?

22 If not, thank you very much.

1 MS. SIMS: Thank you.

2 CHAIR HILLMAN: We now will have

3 several reports regarding our research agenda

4 for 2005. We'll have an update on the statewide

5 voter registration guidance, and following that,

6 an update on provisional voter, and voter

7 identification study, and then a report on the

8 efforts we made to collect and analyze data from

9 the states.

10 Just to put this in context, Section 303 of

11 HAVA requires that each state develop and

12 maintain a single statewide list of registered

13 voters. That is a very significant undertaking.

14 The law allows, allowed states to waive

15 compliance with the mandate until January 1,

16 2006. So what we have are 17 states that

17 implemented these lists in time for the November

18 2004 election, and 44 states took the waiver

19 option, which means they must be in compliance

20 by January 1, 2006.

21 Of the 44, 21 states have entered into an

22 agreement for the development of the database,

1 and nine others have requests for proposal

2 pending. And so that leaves a few that are

3 still working their way toward being in a

4 position where they will have requests for