U.S. Election Assistance Commission

AUSTIN, TX – The United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC) today voted to adopt the 2006 Election Day Survey, the largest and most comprehensive survey on election administration ever conducted by a U.S. governmental organization. The survey and the data are available at www.eac.gov.

“The report tells us a great deal about voting and elections practices throughout the country," said EAC Chair Donetta Davidson. "EAC thanks the thousands of election officials throughout the country who provided data for this survey. The American people and the cause of democracy will benefit from their participation.”

This is the second time that EAC has collected statistics from the States regarding election practices and voting. The report builds and expands on EAC’s 2004 survey through the use of a Web-based survey. The survey provides critical statistics on voter registration and turnout, voting equipment and locations, and other information about the voting process.

Key 2006 Election Facts (As reported by the states)
• Nearly 173 million persons were registered to vote for the 2006 elections—an increase of nearly 12.1 million since the 2002 midterm election.
• The number of registered voters declined since the 2004 Presidential election from nearly 176.2 million to 172.8 million.
• 76.6 percent of the Voting Age Population (VAP) was registered and 83.8 percent of the Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) was registered. 
• More than 82 million ballots were cast or counted in the 2006 election.
• One percent of those participating cast a provisional ballot. (slightly more than 794,000 individuals)

The study also reports that the number of provisional ballots for 2006 was less than half of the levels reported for the 2004 election. However, a significantly larger share of the provisional ballots were counted. Only 64.5 percent of provisional ballots were counted in the 2004 election, compared to the 79.5 percent in the 2006 election. Nearly 30 percent of the jurisdictions across the country reported using multiple voting systems and the 2006 data show a dramatic rise in the number of jurisdictions using electronic systems. EAC’s 2004 study reported that just 9.3 percent of the jurisdictions reported using electronic voting equipment, but this increased to 53.6 percent two years later. The EAC survey found that 87.7 percent of the polling places allowed access for voters with disabilities, and 84.5 percent allowed these voters to cast a private ballot.

EAC's Election Day Survey was distributed last fall to election administrators in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. State administrators worked with local election officials to complete the survey. The survey included 58 questions covering topics such as voter registration, election results, provisional and absentee ballots, overvotes and undervotes, polling places and workers, voting equipment and disability access. EAC conducted the survey in its role as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration as established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).

The EAC is an independent bipartisan commission created by HAVA. EAC serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration. It is charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system test laboratories and certifying voting equipment. It is also charged with developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form. The four EAC commissioners are Donetta Davidson, chair; Rosemary Rodriguez, vice chair; Caroline Hunter; and Gracia Hillman.