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1 2 3 4 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION 5 EXCERPT FROM THE PUBLIC MEETING 6 7 8 Taken at the Marriott Hotel 9 1535 Broadway, New York, New York 12 16 Gracia Hillman, Chair 20 21 Start time: 9:30 o'clock, a.m. 22 Taken before: ELLEN REACH, a court reporter
1 CHAIR HILLMAN: Good morning. 2 Welcome to this Public Meeting of 3 the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. 4 Could I ask and remind you to 5 silence your cell phones, pagers and any other 6 electronic device that might make noise and 7 disturb the proceedings of our meeting. Thank 8 you. 9 If you would stand and join me in 10 the Pledge of Allegiance. 11 (Assembly reciting the Pledge of Allegiance) 12 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you. 13 If we could have the roll call, 14 please. 15 MS. THOMPSON: Thank you, Madam 16 Chair. 17 Please respond by saying present or 18 here when I call your name. 19 Gracia Hillman, Chair? 20 CHAIR HILLMAN: Here. 21 MS. THOMPSON: Paul DeGregorio, Vice 22 Chairman?
1 VICE CHAIR DeGREGORIO: Here. 2 MS. THOMPSON: Ray Martinez, 3 Commissioner? 4 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Here. 5 MS. THOMPSON: Madam Chair, there 6 are three members present out of four. 7 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you. 8 It is wonderful to be here in New 9 York City. This is the first meeting that we 10 have held in this great city. 11 Doubly pleased that John Ravitz, 12 Executive Director of the New York City Board of 13 Elections is with us this morning to bring 14 greetings. 15 Mr. Ravitz, please. Thank you. 16 MR. RAVITZ: Thank you very much. 17 We want to welcome you to New York 18 City and hopefully you will have a wonderful time 19 here, spend money, which helps our revenue and I 20 would like to, on behalf -- 21 There we go. 22 CHAIR HILLMAN: Please begin again.
1 MR. RAVITZ: I just asked everyone 2 to please spend money to help our city revenues. 3 But on behalf of the New York City 4 Board of Elections, we would like to welcome the 5 EAC here. 6 I would also like to recognize one 7 of our ten Commissioners who are here, 8 Commissioner Terry O'Connor, from the Borough of 9 Queens, is here to welcome you as well. 10 And it's good to see some very 11 familiar faces. Commissioner DeGregorio, as we 12 were talking earlier, has been in New York City 13 on Election Day during the last two general 14 elections. 15 And we are very happy and pleased - 16 and New York's loss is your gain in having Tom 17 Wilkey now as your Executive Director. And we 18 look forward to continuing our long working 19 relationship with Tom. 20 Just for those of you who don't 21 know, I was in the New York State Assembly for 22 12 years, representing the East Side of
1 Manhattan, before becoming the Executive Director 2 of the New York City Board of Elections. 3 And, quite frankly, for 12 years I 4 only cared about one thing when it came to the 5 election process - making sure that my name was 6 on the ballot, not caring about anything else. 7 Well, the first day I took this job 8 I asked our Chief Voting Technician to open up 9 the back of one of our Shoup 3.2 lever machines, 10 because I had never seen the back of the machine, 11 I had only seen the front of the machine. 12 When you open up the back of one of 13 those beauties and you see the work that has to 14 go into that that our technicians have to do to 15 strap those machines to get the ballots ready, I 16 began to see already that I had a lot of learning 17 to do about the electoral process. 18 The other experience I had with the 19 Board of Elections staff was in 1996 on Election 20 Day. I was in one off my tightest races and I 21 was in front of one of my busiest polling sites, 22 which is Hunter College on the East Side of
1 Manhattan. 2 I am just standing there greeting 3 voters and a woman came out around seven o'clock 4 in the morning and she said, "you are Assemblyman 5 Ravitz," and I said "yes". And she extended her 6 hand. I thought she wanted to shake my hand. 7 And she put a lever in my hand. And 8 I said, "well, what's this?" And she said, 9 "well, I just tried to vote for you and this 10 lever came out." And I said, "did you tell 11 anybody?" And she said, "no". 12 I said, "well, we have to go put 13 this lever back in because now no one is going to 14 be able to vote for me." 15 That hasn't happened in the three 16 years that I have been in this job. 17 But, again, just some background on 18 New York City. And Commissioner DeGregorio and 19 Executive Director Wilkey I think know it very 20 well. 21 We have 1369 poll sites in the five 22 boroughs of New York City. We have 7,639
1 existing Shoup 3.2 lever machines that the City 2 of New York has been using since the early 3 1960's. 4 On Election Day we bring in 30,000 5 poll workers to man our polls in all five 6 boroughs and we try and service 4.2 million 7 voters. 8 HAVA, obviously, has been on all of 9 our minds. We have been waiting anxiously for 10 the State Legislature for the last two years to 11 put what they wanted to put into state statute in 12 regards to implementing of HAVA. 13 We have successfully - and I am very 14 pleased to say successfully - introduced the 15 first phase of the HAVA ID requirement in last 16 September's election. And we spent a lot of time 17 doing as much as we could to make this as 18 painless a process for those voters who fell 19 under the category of people who had registered 20 to vote by mail for the first time after January 21 1, 2003. 22 We had good success and that will, 1 obviously, continue as we continue to make sure 2 that those people who fall into that category 3 will do so. 4 But, other than that, we were 5 waiting for the Legislature to act and this is 6 it. They finally, last week, finished their 7 legislative duties in putting into legislative 8 form the remaining pieces of HAVA. 9 The biggest issue that we have is 10 the Machine Bill and that's what - we are now 11 going to be beginning that process because under 12 this legislation that the State Legislature 13 passed, we are now going to have to have one new 14 voting system in each poll site in all five 15 boroughs for the 2006 election. 16 Now, I don't know what the Justice 17 Department is going to do regarding that 18 regulation. That's going to be up to the 19 lawyers. 20 We are moving forward and, 21 obviously, there are a lot of things that have to 22 happen on the state level with the state Board of
1 Elections, as well as our Commissioners making 2 the determination which systems they would want. 3 But you should know that we at the 4 Board of Elections have not just been sitting on 5 our hands. We have put together working groups, 6 internal work groups of our own staff, reaching 7 out to work in trying to acquire consultants - 8 who will be able to help us as project managers - 9 move into this transition form. 10 And the Mayor of the City of New 11 York, in his budget that will be adopted in the 12 next few days, saw the need that we are going to 13 have to do to implement HAVA in these final 14 stages and came through with the money that we 15 needed to hire communication firms, to help us 16 with our public relations, to do what we have to 17 do in terms of hiring additional technical 18 people. 19 So we are going to be ready to go 20 once we know what the systems we are going to be 21 using will be. 22 This is our roadmap now that we will
1 begin to start with. 2 But I have to tell you, and I say 3 this with all the sincerity that I can, I don't 4 know what's going to happen in 2006. Under the 5 state law we have to have 1369 machines, one in 6 each poll site. We probably will need an 7 additional 200 or 250 for spares, for training, 8 for demonstrations. 9 I don't know, once it gets to the 10 point where our Commissioners make a selection, 11 if any vendor is going to be able to produce 12 those type of numbers for us in that short a 13 time. Because we need as many of these new 14 systems in place so that we can make sure that 15 they interface with our existing systems that we 16 have in all five boroughs and our offices. 17 In addition to that, once we get 18 those 1369 plus machines, we are going to need 19 the other 6,000 machines very quickly after that 20 as well. 21 So the question that I will leave 22 all of you - and really to be up front with all
1 of you - is that we are going to do everything 2 that we can to comply with the law. 3 But because of the small window that 4 the State Legislature really has given us in 5 terms of all the work that still has to get done 6 before I can tell you or my staff or the voters 7 of the City of New York what new systems they're 8 going to be voting on, a lot has to happen. 9 And we look forward to working with 10 you as we try to move forward in this regard. We 11 appreciate the fact that the money that you have 12 given to us and to the state has begun to come 13 through and now that we can actually use some of 14 that money. 15 But this is a process that is still 16 very fluid in my mind and it is one that's going 17 to have to be done, as we have always said, in a 18 very responsible way. Because the one thing that 19 we never want to lose sight of, is we do not want 20 to disenfranchise any voter. 21 When you are dealing with a city as 22 wonderful as New York City, when you have 4.2
1 million voters - some of them voting for the 2 first time, some of them who are going to be very 3 anxious about changing the way they have been 4 voting for years and years - a lot of work has to 5 get done. 6 But working with you and working 7 with the state Board of Electionss, I hope that 8 we can do that. 9 So, again, I want to welcome you 10 here. Hope that you have a wonderful conference 11 here in New York City. And we are always here to 12 the be of assistance to you when you are here in 13 our great city. 14 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you very much, 15 Mr. Ravitz. 16 Commissioners, we have before us the 17 agenda for today's meeting. And unless there are 18 any changes or edits to the agenda, it's 19 appropriate for adoption. 20 VICE CHAIR DeGREGORIO: So move. 21 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Second. 22 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you very much.
1 The agenda has been adopted. 2 Minutes for the May 24 meeting, are 3 there any corrections to the minutes? If not, it 4 would be appropriate to approve the minutes. 5 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Move 6 adoption, Madam Chair. 7 VICE CHAIR DeGREGORIO: Second. 8 CHAIR HILLMAN: The minutes from May 9 24 have been adopted. 10 We have three reports this morning. 11 The first is an update on the Title 12 II requirements payments. 13 And, Mr. Vice Chairman, if you would 14 be so kind. 15 VICE CHAIR DeGREGORIO: Thank you, 16 Madam Chair. 17 Commissioner Martinez is also going 18 to share this responsibility this morning. But 19 let me say it's a pleasure to be here in New York 20 City and in New York State. 21 And, John Ravitz, thank you for 22 those remarks.
1 We certainly recognize the pressures 2 that you have been under in trying to get some 3 things done here in New York State and at least 4 they made some steps. But we hope that we, as a 5 Commission, can be the best of help to you, share 6 information from other jurisdictions around the 7 country that have gone through some changes and 8 the changes that you are about to experience and 9 hope that we could be of help. 10 And I have been in New York a couple 11 of times. I was here last November for the 12 general election in Commune City (sic), up in the 13 Bronx up there. I saw on TV this morning that 14 they were without electricity last night and 15 thought, wow, that's tough. 16 There were 14,000 people at this one 17 polling place in the Bronx, in one of the largest 18 polling places in America, with 72 poll workers 19 to manage that one polling place. And it was 20 amazing to see that last November in operation. 21 I appreciate it. 22 I also observed the primary election
1 up in upstate New York and I see Ed Szczesniak 2 here from Onondaga County in upstate New York and 3 got to observe a primary up there. 4 So I have seen the big city and I 5 have seen other areas of New York to see how 6 elections are conducted. 7 And the good news for the report 8 that we are giving today about the requirements 9 payments is that we are getting close to the end. 10 We started the process on June 9, 11 2004 to begin to disburse money to the states, 12 District of Columbia and the U.S. territories, 55 13 entities in total, to distribute money. And 14 there was $2.3 billion appropriated for EAC to 15 distribute. 16 And I am pleased to report that we 17 are now down to the last $115 million of that 18 $2.3 billion. 19 Since our last meeting, Madam Chair, 20 we have disbursed funds to the State of 21 California - $169 million; to the Territory of 22 Guam for $2.3 million. And last, but certainly
1 not least, and good news I know to all of New 2 York State - $153 million to New York State for 3 fiscal year 2003 and 2004 money. 4 I am going to ask Commissioner 5 Martinez to perhaps talk about what may be left 6 for fiscal year 2004 distribution. 7 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 8 Mr. Vice Chairman. 9 Just to wrap up this part of the 10 agenda, all 55 jurisdictions covered by the Help 11 America Vote Act - 50 States, the District of 12 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the 13 eligible U.S. Territories - have received all of 14 their 2003 requirements payment. 15 There is also a pot of money that is 16 the 2004 Title II requirements payments and of 17 that, of those funds, 48 States have received 18 their disbursement or 48 of the 55 eligible 19 jurisdictions have received their disbursement, 20 leaving seven jurisdictions remaining that are 21 eligible for the $115 million or so Federal funds 22 that the Vice Chairman mentioned earlier.
1 We anticipate and we are in touch 2 with all seven of those jurisdictions. I know 3 that two of them - Michigan and Texas - have 4 sizable '03 - I mean, sizable '04 requirements 5 payments left to pull down. And they, for some 6 of those jurisdictions, it is a question of 7 coming up with the appropriate 5% match that has 8 to come down from the State to be able to draw 9 down the Federal funds. 10 We are working with all seven 11 jurisdictions, Madam Chair, to distribute this 12 money in a timely fashion so that they can put 13 the money to good use. 14 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you very much. 15 Are there any questions of your 16 colleague who gave the second half of the report? 17 The next item we will receive a 18 report on are the Proposed Voluntary Voting 19 System Guidelines. 20 We have been working very diligently 21 and we are able to post the proposed guidelines 22 on our web site. The appropriate notification
1 has been sent to the Federal Register so that the 2 information will be available as well through 3 Federal Register Notice. And the 90 day public 4 comment period can begin. 5 And Carol Paquette, who has been 6 serving as our Interim Executive Director, and is 7 now working with us to help us finalize our work 8 on the guidelines, will give us a report and an 9 update. 10 Carol, thank you. 11 MS. PAQUETTE: Madam Chair, 12 Commissioners. 13 Is this on? 14 THE CHAIR: Tap it. See the slide 15 button on top. 16 MS. PAQUETTE: As you are aware. 17 Section 202 of HAVA directs the EAC to adopt 18 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines and to provide 19 for -- 20 CHAIR HILLMAN: Could you move the 21 mike just a little bit closer. I think we are 22 getting signals that --
1 MS. PAQUETTE: Sure. Section 202 of 2 HAVA directs the EAC to adopt Voluntary Voting 3 System Guidelines and to provide for the testing, 4 certification, decertification and 5 recertification of voting system hardware and 6 software by accredited test labs, among many 7 other duties that are assigned to the Commission. 8 To assist EAC with the voting system 9 guidelines work, HAVA provides for the 10 establishment of a body of subject matter 11 experts, called the Technical Guidelines 12 Development Committee. 13 This fifteen person body, under the 14 specifications in HAVA, is drawn from a variety 15 of organizations who have particular expertise 16 and interest in the subject matter, such as the 17 National Association of State Election Directors, 18 the Access Board, the American National Standards 19 Institute and the IEE, among other organizations. 20 The Technical Guidelines Development 21 Committee is Chaired by the Director of the 22 National Institute for Standards and Technology,
1 NIST, and NIST is charged with providing 2 technical support to the work of the TGDC. 3 EAC has provided nearly $3 million 4 this fiscal year to fund the work of the TGDC and 5 NIST. 6 Under HAVA the TGDC is tasked with 7 developing initial recommendations for voting 8 system guidelines and providing those 9 recommendations to the Election Assistance 10 Commission. 11 The TGDC and NIST worked very 12 diligently on this effort for the nine months 13 provided by HAVA and they provided a very 14 excellent product for the Commission to review. 15 They completed their work and 16 delivered their initial set of recommendations to 17 the Commission on May the 9th. 18 The recommendations provided by the 19 TGDC augment the 2002 Voting System Standards, 20 particularly in the area of accessibility, 21 usability and security of voting systems. 22 This includes new requirements for
1 accessibility, for voting system software 2 distribution, for voting system setup validation 3 and use of wireless. 4 Also in recognition of the fact that 5 several states have enacted legislation requiring 6 voter verified paper audit trails, the guidelines 7 also include performance specifications for this 8 capability. 9 We would note that for federal 10 system certification purposes, the voter verified 11 paper audit trail are optional. They are there 12 for the use of those states that have chosen to 13 require this capability. 14 We would also note that a paper 15 audit trail is only one of several technical 16 approaches to provide voters an additional means 17 to the DRE summary screen to verify their ballot 18 choices. 19 The Commission expects to be working 20 with the TGDC and NIST to develop similar 21 specifications for audio, video and cryptographic 22 solutions that provide comparable capabilities
1 for voter verifiability. 2 Subsequent to receiving these 3 recommendations from the TGDC, EAC has been 4 performing its due diligence of thoroughly 5 reviewing these recommendation and preparing them 6 for presentation for public comment. 7 In particular, we have performed the 8 legal analysis of the guidelines to ensure that 9 all the aspects are fully in compliance with the 10 governing statute, HAVA. 11 This has resulted in some changes in 12 the accessibility provisions, for example. In 13 particular, Requirement 2.2.5 regarding 14 accessible voting systems, if the procedure for 15 voters is to submit their own ballots, then we 16 have changed the requirement from a 'should' to a 17 'shall', that voters who are blind are able to 18 perform this activity independently. 19 Essentially the idea is that if the 20 requirement is for the voter to be providing some 21 manipulation of the ballot, of the sighted voter, 22 that those with impairments should be able to do
1 the same thing. 2 In addition to these changes in the 3 accessibility section, selected portions of the 4 document have been revised to reflect the new EAC 5 process for national certification of voting 6 systems. And this was adopting the sections that 7 describe the previous NASED qualification process 8 to describe the EAC certification process. And 9 also we made updates throughout the document to 10 reflect new HAVA terminology. 11 As you noted, Madam Chair, the 12 Federal Registered Notice was published 13 yesterday, June 29th. And that begins the 90 day 14 public comment period. 15 We have copies of the Federal 16 Register Notice that are on the table for people 17 coming into the room. And that provides a full 18 description of the various ways that the public 19 can comment on these guidelines and also how to 20 obtain copies of the guidelines. 21 I would note, in addition to making 22 the guidelines available on our web site, they
1 are available on request in paper form or in 2 CD-ROM. 3 We have also provided it on our web 4 site in both PDF and HTML format, so that those 5 interested parties who use assistive technology 6 are able to read the document. 7 I would like to conclude by noting 8 that we are holding three hearings on the 9 guidelines, one today immediately following this 10 meeting. 11 We have a second hearing scheduled 12 for July 28th which will take place at California 13 Institute of Technology. And we have a third 14 hearing in August in Denver. 15 And we will have more information 16 forthcoming as these meetings are finalized. 17 Are there any questions? 18 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you very much. 19 Because we are having the hearing 20 this afternoon, we will be able to get into a lot 21 more discussion. 22 But I was wondering if you could
1 just tell us what somebody who is viewing the 2 document on the EAC web site can expect to see. 3 I mean, it is a very large document. And so we 4 don't want people to be deterred because they 5 think they have to sift through 300 and something 6 pages of material. 7 MS. PAQUETTE: Yes, this is a rather 8 formidable document. It is about 250 pages. 9 CHAIR HILLMAN: All right. So I 10 exaggerated. 11 MS. PAQUETTE: And for ease of use 12 on the web site, we had it posted in a number of 13 ways. So if someone wants to download the entire 14 document, they can do that. 15 The document is actually in two 16 volumes. One volume is for voting system 17 performance requirements and the second volume is 18 for testing requirements. You can also download 19 the volumes separately. 20 In addition, with each one of the 21 volumes, you can read or download each section of 22 the volume independently.
1 So you can sort of treat this in 2 somewhat bite-sized pieces. 3 And, as I said, it's downloadable 4 from the web site and also available in other 5 media for people who wish it. 6 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you. 7 Commissioner Martinez. 8 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 9 Madam Chair. 10 First of all, I want to say that the 11 publication of this draft of the Voluntary Voting 12 System Guidelines I think represents perhaps one 13 of the most significant, if not the most 14 significant, accomplishment of this new agency. 15 We have been around for 18 months 16 and certainly this is - in addition, obviously, 17 to distributing the funds, which we have been 18 working on since the first day that we were 19 officially appointed to this position - I think 20 the development of these guidelines is a 21 significant step forward. 22 And I applaud our staff for all of
1 the fine work that they have done. And also the 2 partners that we had - all of the members of the 3 Technical Guidelines Development Committee and, 4 of course, the National Institute of Standards 5 and Technology. I know some of their staff are 6 represented here as well. 7 We are certainly very grateful for 8 the work that has been done. 9 I know, Carol, one of the questions 10 that I have been getting - and I think rightly 11 so - and as I have gone and traveled around to 12 talk about this process for the past couple of 13 months - is what was the EAC, in receiving the 14 initial recommendations that came from NIST and 15 from the TGDC, what was the EAC doing in terms of 16 its internal processes to analyze the initial 17 recommendations and to move forward with 18 publishing the draft of the Voluntary Voting 19 System Guidelines. 20 And from my perspective, and I'll 21 let you chime in, but from my perspective, what 22 has been happening for us internally, for the
1 past six or seven weeks, has been the type of due 2 diligence that any Federal agency ought to be 3 conducting, especially when we are in receipt of 4 such a highly technical document as is the 5 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines or as is the 6 initial recommendations, actually, that came over 7 from the TGDC. 8 Our internal process has revolved 9 primarily around the idea of having our own legal 10 counsel take a look at the initial 11 recommendations that came from the TGDC and to 12 analyze those recommendations to ensure 13 conformity with our governing statute for this 14 agency, which is the Help America Vote Act. 15 And so any changes or any departures 16 that would be noted between what we published in 17 the past few days, or late last week, versus what 18 was given to us from the TGDC in the form of 19 initial recommendations revolves around that type 20 of due diligence - a legal analysis to ensure 21 compliance with our governing statute. 22 Any comment from your perspective
1 that you have been doing, obviously, the 2 day-to-day personal work on this for us, any 3 comment about that process? 4 MS. PAQUETTE: Well, certainly, as 5 you note, the legal review for compliance with 6 HAVA has been substantive work that has been 7 done. 8 As I indicated, we went through the 9 document also to change the previous terminology 10 to terminology that's used in HAVA. The 11 rationale for doing that was that this is a 12 guideline document. It is going to be adopted by 13 the Commission after we have opportunity to 14 consider the comments that are provided over the 15 summer. And it will be a document that will be 16 used for the national certification and, if 17 adopted by the states, also for state 18 certifications of voting systems. 19 So since this is a document that 20 will have some significant duration of life, we 21 thought it advisable to start it off with the 22 terminology that is going to be used moving
1 forward. And so that we made an attempt to do 2 that. 3 Similarly, as I indicated, we also 4 gave a high level description of the new voting 5 system certification process that the EAC will be 6 undertaking shortly, again, transitioning that 7 responsibility from the National Association of 8 State Election Directors. 9 So we are looking at this document 10 to provide a basis - and recognizing that we 11 expect to get many comments on the document and 12 it will certainly be undergoing further changes 13 over the next 90 days - but we wanted to start at 14 least with a common set of terminology and to 15 look forward to the future use of this document. 16 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: One quick 17 follow-up question. Just to clarify, again, the 18 thrust of our due diligence for past six or seven 19 weeks for the EAC has been a legal analysis on 20 the requirements. 21 That legal analysis was not 22 conducted by the TGDC. Clarify me if I am wrong.
1 My understanding is that there was 2 obviously a great deal of work done to ensure 3 that the requirements were attestable, objective 4 and in every way possible compliant with Federal 5 Law. But there was a not a legal analysis that 6 was done by counsel to NIST or anybody else to 7 ensure that the requirements that were finally 8 adopted by the TGDC in the form of initial 9 recommendations, were, in fact, in conformance 10 with the Help America Vote Act. 11 MS. PAQUETTE: Yes. And as you may 12 recall, at the final plenary session of the TGDC, 13 the TGDC requested that a legal analysis be 14 performed to ensure that the provisions that were 15 being put forward were fully in compliance with 16 HAVA. 17 Of course, under our responsibility 18 as the interpreter of HAVA, we would normally do 19 that anyhow. But, again, it was with the request 20 of the TGDC to cover that concern that they had 21 as well. 22 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Thank you,
1 Carol. 2 One final question, Madam Chair. I 3 know that I have exceeded my time. 4 We have our General Counsel, Juliet 5 Thompson, here. It is also important, I think, 6 for full public view, that the public be allowed 7 to see what was given to the EAC in the form of 8 initial recommendations by the TGDC versus where 9 the EAC ends up in its final adoption of these 10 guidelines. 11 So, Madam Counsel, I guess my 12 question is, I know that there is a mechanism 13 within HAVA that addresses it so that at the end 14 of the process when we go final with adoption of 15 the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines, is there 16 a requirement that we also simultaneously publish 17 what came to us initially as the initial 18 recommendations from TGDC? 19 MS. THOMPSON: Commissioner 20 Martinez, the drafters of HAVA did specifically 21 deal with this in Section 221(f) of HAVA. 22 Therein they direct the TGDC to publish the
1 recommendations at the time that the EAC adopts 2 its Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. 3 COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 4 Madam Chair. 5 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you, 6 Commissioner Martinez. 7 Mr. Vice Chairman, you have been our 8 designated Federal officer for the Technical 9 Guidelines Development Committee. I don't know 10 that Congress did this on purpose, but it gave 11 the TGDC nine months to produce a document. 12 That is about the length of time it 13 is to give birth to a baby. So the baby was born 14 and I know that you are a very proud parent. 15 I wondered if you had any comments 16 or questions for Ms. Paquette. 17 VICE CHAIR DeGREGORIO: Thank you, 18 Madam Chair. 19 Yes, I am the proud parent of four 20 wonderful daughters and I give my wife full 21 credit for what she had to go through for nine 22 months to bring them into this world.
1 But we went through a nine month 2 period, too, to come up with this and I have been 3 very involved in the process. And it's a 4 process, Madam Chair, that we all can be proud 5 of. 6 Because I know, Madam Chair, that 7 the four Commissioners - Commissioner Soaries was 8 with us - we were all committed to get this 9 process implemented in a timely manner. And we 10 worked very hard to get the members of the TGDC 11 appointed in a timely basis and they began their 12 work on July the 9th and completed it on May the 13 9th, nine months later. 14 And just a little perspective here 15 on what's happened in the past. 16 You may recall, Madam Chair, that 17 there were guidelines issued in 1990. Actually 18 they were called standards, Federal Voting System 19 Standards, issued by the Federal Election 20 Commission. And they were updated in 2002. 21 It took 12 years to get from 1990 to 22 2002 update.
1 And then we are now updating and 2 augmenting and improving on the 2002 standards. 3 And it's really been a nine month process to do 4 that, not necessarily a three year process. 5 And we do have to give a great 6 thanks to the members of the TGDC - some members 7 who are here today - who worked very hard, and to 8 the staff at NIST who supported them in this 9 process. 10 Certainly we followed very closely. 11 But we made it very clear from the beginning, we 12 wanted to follow a process that was dictated by 13 HAVA. And I believe, Madam Chair, we have done 14 that. 15 And they have done it in a way that 16 has been transparent and we have done it in a way 17 that is transparent and I believe will continue 18 to be transparent. 19 And this is the beginning of that 90 20 day process to have public hearings and to hear 21 about this. 22 And I want to ask Carol Paquette 1 about how the public comment period will work and 2 how transparent will it be. 3 And when people do make comments on 4 this document over the next 90 days, how will 5 that be affected, how will that get on web sites, 6 and how will that be brought to our attention and 7 to the attention of the public so it's done in a 8 very transparent manner? 9 MS. PAQUETTE: Yes, Vice Chairman. 10 As I noted, the document is posted 11 on the EAC web site. We also have on our web 12 site an on-line comment form, if you will, that 13 people can go right to the web site and enter 14 their comments on the document. They could be 15 reading the document in one window and commenting 16 on the other, if they are so inclined. 17 In addition, we have established -- 18 Let me finish with that part. 19 Those comments then go into a data 20 base and each comment, we have a public 21 obligation to review the comments for 22 inappropriate language and other inappropriate
1 comments. But once that very initial screening 2 has been done, all comments will be posted on the 3 web site so anyone can see what the comments are. 4 In addition, we have established a 5 special e-mail box: votingsystemguidelines@ 6 EAC.gov. 7 For those individuals who don't have 8 Internet access or who may feel more comfortable 9 writing an e-mail or who may have documents they 10 wish to send us that wouldn't lend themselves to 11 being inserted in the comment page - although we 12 accept attachments on the comment page - this 13 provides another mechanism for individuals to 14 provide their comments. 15 And, of course, we are not averse to 16 taking comments by mail. And we have provided 17 our address in the Federal Register Notice and, 18 of course, also on our web site. 19 We ask that those comments be 20 specifically addressed to Voting System 21 Guidelines Comments, so that they can be rapidly 22 sorted out from the other mail that we receive
1 and appropriately treated. 2 We have a mechanism with the on-line 3 comment data base that any comments that are 4 received by e-mail or by mail, that we can enter 5 them into the data base. 6 So by whatever means the comments 7 come in to us, they will ultimately be posted in 8 that data base and available for anyone to 9 review. 10 VICE CHAIR DeGREGORIO: I understand 11 that the TGDC received, continued to receive 12 comments after their cutoff date for producing 13 their initial set of draft recommendations to us. 14 Will we receive any comments that 15 people have made to the TGDC since that period? 16 Because people are commenting on a document that 17 they produced, but it certainly can instruct us, 18 too. 19 MS. PAQUETTE: Yes. The comment 20 period on the TGDC draft, I believe, ended a week 21 or so before the April plenary meeting in order 22 to prepare the materials for that meeting.
1 We have received from NIST the 2 comments that they have received up until, I 3 think, about a month ago. And we have those 4 comments also to review. That was on the body of 5 the document as well as comments on the glossary 6 section, which is a fairly expanded portion of 7 the new guidelines document. 8 And we will be reviewing those. 9 And, certainly, as we continue working with NIST, 10 if they continue to receive comments that we need 11 to consider in our process, they will pass those 12 on to us. 13 VICE CHAIR DeGREGORIO: Thank you, 14 Madam Chair. 15 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you. 16 It certainly is an incredible piece 17 of work and we are pleased to be able to hold our 18 first hearing to get this part of the process 19 underway. Thank you very much. 20 Before we go to the final report, I 21 want to back up a minute to the Title II 22 requirements payments, because I neglected to
1 emphasize that I think it's pretty incredible 2 that in one year time, given all the start-up 3 challenges that we had as a Commission, we were 4 able to disburse over $2.2 billion in funds to 5 the States. 6 And I think a lot of people in the 7 public, a lot of voters, don't understand the 8 incredible amount of money that the Federal 9 Government has made available to states to be in 10 compliance with the Help America Vote Act. 11 But I want to just say thank you to 12 my two colleagues who were serving as a task 13 force to work with staff, but also to the staff, 14 and, in particular, to Margaret Sims, who is not 15 able to be with us today, for the incredible 16 amount of work that she did as a one-person 17 office, to process all of the requirements 18 payments, which meant reviewing materials from 19 the states - and in some instances states 20 received two payments at different times. 21 So it is conceivable that she was 22 dealing with as many as 100 different
1 applications for funding. And it was just an 2 incredible process that was expedited. 3 And the General Services 4 Administration, of course, was very cooperative 5 and moving the funds just as quickly as we gave 6 notice to them. 7 So I think we ought to all be proud 8 and pleased that we have been able to move 9 through this, and working with the remaining 10 seven or so states who are doing the final work 11 to receive their final funds. 12 Our last report is on Statewide 13 Voter Registration List Guidance. 14 And I am sure, I mean, I really 15 enjoy looking out at our meetings and seeing 16 people who are interested enough in our work to 17 attend our meetings and listen to what we say, 18 hopefully, visit our web site, and help us do 19 diligence on the responsibilities assigned to us. 20 But I am sure that some of the 21 language we use must be just unnecessarily 22 burdensome - guidelines and guidance and why
1 guidance and why guidelines. 2 So I would just ask, Ms. General 3 Counsel, if you would explain, in your 4 introduction of the guidance, why we are 5 referring to guidance on the statewide vote 6 registration list, but guidelines on the voting 7 systems. 8 MS. THOMPSON: Thank you, Madam 9 Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to bring 10 you a report on the progress of the guidance that 11 we are issuing on statewide voter registration 12 lists. 13 For the benefit of those of us or 14 those of you who have not had the opportunity to 15 be with us at other hearings, let me explain that 16 under Section 311 of HAVA, the statute gives the 17 Commission not only the authority, but the 18 requirement, of issuing interpretive guidance to 19 the provisions of Title III of HAVA. Those are 20 several, including the requirement that states, 21 "implement a statewide voter registration list." 22 In April of 2005 we published a
1 document in the Federal Register which is our 2 proposed guidance on statewide voter registration 3 lists. That document was developed through a 4 working group of state and local election 5 officials, representatives from the Department of 6 Justice, technology experts and a partnership 7 with the National Academy of Sciences. 8 There was a 30 day comment period 9 that followed that publication. That period has 10 now closed. And, to bring you up to speed, we 11 received 320-odd comments during the period of 30 12 days. The comments were quite high quality. 13 They were received from state and local election 14 officials, from community interest groups and 15 from individuals. 16 To give you a bit of a 17 characterization of what the comments were, 18 primarily the state and local election officials 19 were interested in the architectural structure of 20 the data bases and the language of HAVA itself. 21 I know that we have thrown around 22 some terms that may not be as intuitive to
1 others, such as top-down and bottom-up. But that 2 makes reference to the architectural structure of 3 the data base. 4 For instance, a top-down system 5 would involve a data base wherein the state 6 controls the main data base for the state and 7 information is fed through either dumb terminals 8 or other access points through the local election 9 officials. 10 The state has the ability through 11 that system to be able to perform list 12 maintenance to coordinate with other state data 13 bases and to verify registrations through the 14 Department of Motor Vehicles and, if necessary, 15 through the Social Security Administration. 16 On the contrary, or in the bottom-up 17 approach, data is actually received up from data 18 bases at the local level into a central data base 19 that is housed at the state level. 20 And it's just a bit of a difference 21 in architecture. But I thought it would be 22 appropriate to more or less explain what that
1 concept it. 2 As I stated, the state and local 3 election officials were most interested in that 4 concept, but also gave us some very good comments 5 on the language of HAVA and its mandates and 6 particularly the mandates of the National Voter 7 Registration Act as well. 8 In contrast, the community interest 9 groups provided comments on what I will say was 10 not included in the guidance. They focused on 11 issues, such as security of the data bases. And, 12 certainly, this is an issue which is near and 13 dear to our hearts and we have continued to work 14 with the National Academy of Sciences, on 15 developing security guidelines and security 16 protocols that will assist states in making sure 17 that this very important pieces of information, 18 regarding all the voters in the country, are kept 19 secure. 20 In addition to that, the focus of 21 the community focus groups was also on issues of 22 list maintenance and verification, to assure that
1 when these tasks are performed, that there are 2 matching protocols that make sense, that are non- 3 discriminatory, and that produce good results in 4 terms of accepting voters or removing voters when 5 appropriate. 6 Just to give you a little bit of an 7 idea of where we will go from here, we are in the 8 final stages of reviewing these 320 comments and 9 we will have a product for your review, Madam 10 Chair and Commissioners, in the next week or so. 11 At that time, after there has been a 12 consensus around the idea of what the final 13 guidance will look like, it will be published in 14 full in the Federal Register, along with an 15 analysis on a categorical basis of these comments 16 that we received. 17 In addition to that, we will, of 18 course, produce a booklet which will excise some 19 of the technical language that goes into the 20 Federal Register Notice, but contains all of the 21 guidance and meat of this document, to be made 22 available to the public, to the states, to
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