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UNITED STATES ELECTION ASSISTANCE
COMMISSION
PUBLIC MEETING
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2005 -
10:00 A.M.
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THE ADAM'S MARK HOTEL
DENVER, COLORADO
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1 CHAIR HILLMAN: Good morning.
This
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meeting of the Untied States Election Assistance
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Commission will come to order. If
I could ask
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everyone to please make sure your cell phone and
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all other electronic devices are turned off or
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silent, so as not to disturb the proceedings of
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this meeting. And if you would
stand and join me
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in the Pledge of Allegiance.
9 ALL: I pledge allegiance to the flag of
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the United States of America, and to the Republic,
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for which it stands, one Nation under God,
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indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
13 CHAIR HILLMAN: If we could have the roll
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call, please?
15 MS. THOMPSON: Thank you, Madame Chair.
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Commissioners, please respond by saying present or
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here after I call your name.
Gracia Hillman,
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Chair?
19 CHAIR HILLMAN: Here.
20 MS. THOMPSON: Paul DeGregorio, Vice-
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Chairman?
22 MR. DEGREGORIO: Here.
23 MS. THOMPSON: Ray Martinez,
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Commissioner?
25 MR. MARTINEZ: Here.
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1 MS. THOMPSON: Donetta Davidson,
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Commissioner?
3 MS. DAVIDSON: Here.
4 MS. THOMPSON: Madame Chair, that is four
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members present, and a quorum.
6 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you.
We have
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before us the agenda for today's meeting. Are
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there any adjustments or amendments to the agenda.
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If not, it would be appropriate to adopt the
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agenda.
11 MR. DEGREGORIO: So moved.
12 MR. MARTINEZ: Second.
13 CHAIR HILLMAN: Okay, all in favor.
14 MR. DEGREGORIO: I.
15 MR. MARTINEZ: I
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MS. DAVIDSON: I.
17 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thanks.
Correction and
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approval of minutes for July 28.
We have those in
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our binder; are there any corrections?
20 MR. DEGREGORIO: Move adoption of the
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minutes, Madame Chair.
22 MR. MARTINEZ: Second.
23 CHAIR HILLMAN: Okay, all in favor of
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adoption of the minutes, say I.
25 MR. DEGREGORIO: I.
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1 MR. MARTINEZ: I.
2 MS. DAVIDSON: I.
3 CHAIR HILLMAN: Okay, thank you. So now
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we move to the report section, and we have two
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reports this morning. One is an
update on the
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Title II Requirements payments to the states. And
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the second will be an update on public comments
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received regarding the voluntary voting system
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guidelines. Commissioner - - I
think,
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Vice-Chairman, do you have a report --
11 MR. DEGREGORIO: Thank you --
12 CHAIR HILLMAN: -- on the requirements;
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I'm sorry.
14 MR. DEGREGORIO: -- Madame Chair, and
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fellow Commissioners, and Commissioner Davidson.
16 MS. DAVIDSON: Thank you.
17 MR. DEGREGORIO: Welcome.
I know this is
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your first meeting.
19 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you.
Excuse me. I
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just took it for granted. I'm so
sorry. This is
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such an exciting time that I just didn't -- we've
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already talked, you know, organized.
This is the
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first meeting of the United States Election
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Assistance Commission that former Secretary of
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State, now Commissioner Donetta Davidson is joining
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us, and welcome.
2 MS. DAVIDSON: Thank you.
3 CHAIR HILLMAN: And it is so fortuitous
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that we happen to be holding this meeting here. I
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know people won't believe it, but it just really
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was sort of coincidental. But it
all worked out
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very nicely and we're so pleased to be here.
8 MS. DAVIDSON: Thank you, and welcome to
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Colorado.
10 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you.
Okay.
11 MR. DEGREGORIO: Thank you.
12 CHAIR HILLMAN: Mr. Vice-Chairman?
13 MR. DEGREGORIO: Thank you.
You know I
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met Donetta -- Commissioner Davidson, I guess I
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should call her now since she's a fellow
16 Commissioner, four years ago in this room,
and she
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was welcoming the folks from my [indiscernible] who
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were meeting here in Denver at the same hotel. And
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I think you gave them a taste of the west, a taste
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of Colorado, and I hope that you're bringing that
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back to Washington, because we know that westerners
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always have a lot to bring, and perhaps you wear
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one of those western hats that I saw you in, I
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think, at the [indiscernible].
25 MS. DAVIDSON: We are unique.
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1 MR. DEGREGORIO: Madame Chair, let me
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give you a report on our requirements payments.
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You know, we do this every month, and we get it at
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our last meeting on July 7. I'm
here to report
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that we haven't made anymore payments since that
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time. We have distributed $2.3
billion though, of
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course, since July 9 of 2004. And
we have $76
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million left to distribute. And there's four states
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or territories that haven't received any of there
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2004 requirements payments, that's Delaware, Guam,
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Montana, and Oregon. In addition
to that, the
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State of Michigan has received a partial payment
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because they previously received the requirements
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payments from a partial payment that they made to a
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partial match that they made in early of this year.
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Just to briefly -- Delaware needs to file a state
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plan to address the 2004 funds.
Hawaii has
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recently appropriated a five percent match, and we
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expect them to apply and certify for the 2004 funds
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very shortly. Michigan plans to
submit a
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certification for the additional payments very
22 shortly. Montana delivered its state plan to us,
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and it has to go to the federal register for
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publication. Once the 30 day
comment period is
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over, we fully expect to receive their
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certification for their 2004 funds.
And the State
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of Oregon recently appropriated its five percent
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match, and will label certified for its 2004 funds
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shortly. So, Madame Chair, the
bottom line is that
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we fully expect, if not by the end of the fiscal
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year on September 30, shortly thereafter, to have
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distributed the $76 million that's left from our
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requirements payments.
9 CHAIR HILLMAN: Thank you.
Are there
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questions on the report, Commissioner Martinez?
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No? Okay. Thank you so much. The next report is
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Carol Paquette. Ms. Paquette, oh
there she is;
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thank you. We'll receive an update on the public
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comments that the EAC has received regarding the
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voluntary voting system guidelines.
Just as a
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reminder, the guidelines went out for public
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comments at the end of June, and so we are about
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seven -- probably seven weeks into that cycle, and
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they'll be out for comment until the end of
20 September.
Ms. Paquette?
21 MS. PAQUETTE: Thank you, Madame Chair.
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Just to very briefly summarize the comments that we
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have received. We currently, as
of about 3:00
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yesterday afternoon, have 141 comments submitted.
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Many of these comments are very concise, single
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comments, to a single requirement in the guidelines
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document. Several commenters have
provided us
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documents with comments, and we are in the process
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of going through those documents and extracting all
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the various comments and allocating them to the
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appropriate places in the guidelines.
About half
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of the comments we've received by e-mail and about
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half have been submitted to our website.
In
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general, about half of the comments received --
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half of the commenters have made observations
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specifically related to the guidelines. The
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remainder are very general observations, to the
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effect that the EAC should make paper audit trails
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mandatory, or general observations that the
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election process in the United States needs to be
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improved, but no specific attribution to the places
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in the guidelines document that might be modified.
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Of those comments that deal specifically with the
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guidelines, the largest number we have received so
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far, which is 16, is on security, and we have about
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14 that deal with accessibility comments. As the
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Chair noted, we have about another five or six
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weeks of commenting time until September 30, which
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is when the public comment period closes. We
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expect to receive many more comments in this final
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month and we will be giving future reports on what
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those are. I would note that all
the comments are
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being posted to our website. Even
those that have
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been received by e-mail are being entered into the
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database that is under the EAC website under
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voluntary voting system guidelines, so that anyone
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can log into that website and review the comments
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that are being provided themselves.
We will also
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accept comments and observations on comments,
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should anyone be so inclined to do that.
Madame
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Chair, that concludes my report; are there any
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questions?
13 CHAIR HILLMAN: Okay, Commissioners?
14 MR. DEGREGORIO: Carol, if you can just
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repeat the exact closing date of public comments
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for the benefit of the audience here, but also I
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think we're live on our webcast.
We do have a date
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for the final -- the final date to submit the
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public comments, in other words.
20 MS. PAQUETTE: Yes, the final date for
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submission of public comments is September 30.
22 MR. DEGREGORIO: Okay, thank you.
23 MS. PAQUETTE: Sure.
24 MR. MARTINEZ: A quick question, Carol,
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these 141 comments, they are pertinent to the
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document that we published in the Federal Register.
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Is that correct?
3 MS. PAQUETTE: Well, as I indicated,
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about half of those are directly referencing the
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guidelines.
6 MR. MARTINEZ: I understand.
7 MS. PAQUETTE: The other half are more
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general in nature.
9 MR. MARTINEZ: My point is -- as I
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understand it that NIST [phonetic] received
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comments after they published their final document?
12 MS. PAQUETTE: That is correct.
13 MR. MARTINEZ: And we'll receive those
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comments also, the people who make comments to
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NIST, on the document, prior to --
16 MS. PAQUETTE: Yes, we have received
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those comments from NIST, and as you are aware, we
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have a contract with Kennesaw State University that
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is --
20 MR. MARTINEZ: Right.
21 MS. PAQUETTE: -- assisting us in
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managing and doing the data entry, and so on with
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these comments, and they will be adding those
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comments to the one that have been submitted by the
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public and not processed.
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1 MR. MARTINEZ: Thank you.
2 CHAIR HILLMAN: Commissioner Davidson,
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any questions?
4 MS. DAVIDSON: No questions.
5 CHAIR HILLMAN: Okay, thank you very
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much.
7 MS. PAQUETTE: Thank you.
8 CHAIR HILLMAN: I appreciate the report.
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This afternoon at the public hearing, we will be
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receiving testimony from individuals about the
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guidelines. And so -- and we
include those
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comments that are submitted in writing as a part of
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the total comments that we receive on the voluntary
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voting system guidelines. The
next section of our
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meeting will be presentations about voting systems
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certifications and laboratory accreditation
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processes. Under the Help America
Vote Act, the
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Election Assistance Commission has been assigned
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significant responsibility to accredit
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laboratories, as well as to certify voting systems
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against the guidelines. And we
have with us this
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morning three people who will make presentations,
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and I believe we will be receiving a recommendation
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from the EAC Staff, with respect to next steps in
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this process. Up to this point,
the National
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Association of State Election Directors has been
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assuming the responsibility for certification on a
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voluntary basis, and so we are in the process of a
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transition, and I believe the presentations and the
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recommendation will address and cover important
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aspects of the transition process.
So if we could
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ask Stephen Berger from TEM Consulting, and Chair
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of the IEEE Standard Coordinating Committee 38, and
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you can explain what all that is, for the record.
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Art Wall, with TEM Consulting, and he is retired
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Deputy Chief of Federal Communications Commission
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Laboratory Division -- that's the US Federal
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Communications Commissions. And
Brian Hancock, who
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is Election Research Specialist for the EAC.
15 Please. We have a good amount of time, an hour or
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so, to be able to get through the presentation,
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including questions for the Commissioners, so I'm
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guessing your presentations are what, about seven
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or ten minutes each, or thereabouts, but feel free
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to take your time because you will be talking about
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a lot of technical terms, and I don't want us to
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rush through this, especially since we will be
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receiving a recommendation for action at the end of
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the presentations. So, Mr.
Berger, I believe you
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are first. And for the record, if
you could please
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just explain what the IEEE stands for, number one,
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and what the function of the Standard Coordinating
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Committee 38 is.
4 MR. BERGER: Thank you, Madame Chair,
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Commissioners, I appreciate very much the
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opportunity to be here and present these thoughts.
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The IEEE is the Institute for Electrical and
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Electronic Engineers. It is the largest
technical
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professional organization in the world.
We operate
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under the IEEE Standards Association to establish
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technical standards in a variety of fields related
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to our discipline. Currently, I believe we have
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about 800 published standards, and a similar number
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of active projects under development.
In those
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efforts, what we try and accomplish is to identify
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where the technical consensus is on any of the
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topics that we're dealing with.
Where we have
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topics that deal with several areas of technology,
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we try and bring together collaborative forums,
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where different specialists can bring their
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expertise to bear, resulting in a standard that
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represents the best technical understanding of the
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combined community. Very often
what we do is
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develop standard coordinating committees. Those
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would be areas where none of our 36 societies
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clearly have dominance. So for example, for voting
2 equipment, clearly our Computer So