EAC Standards Board Meeting--Day Two

First up on day two was a discussion about the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:S1415:). We heard from election officials in Delaware, Washington and West Virginia. Officials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) talked about their responsibilities under the MOVE Act.

Visit our Military and Overseas Voters section to learn more about EAC’s role under the MOVE Act and what we are doing to help these voters, including the Military Heroes Initiative, Pilot Program Guidelines and the most comprehensive research about ballot request and return rates.

The last panel of the day was Journalists and Election Officials: Working Together on Behalf of America’s Voters. Journalists and election officials discussed gathering and reporting results, post-election activities and shared goals. They exchanged practical information about challenges and how to achieve their shared goal of delivering election results to the public. Highlights included:

• Journalists want information fast – correct – but fast
• Election officials’ priority is operational – count the ballots accurately
• Journalists need information about election trends
• Partnerships between journalists and election officials are important
• Pre-election news is about people. How will the process impact voters?
• Putting election information into context can be a challenge
• Reporting can impact voter behavior
• Broadcast journalists need to fill time before unofficial results are announced. They need a continuous stream of information
• Accuracy versus speed are usually the competing priorities for these two groups
• Freedom of the press and voter confidence in elections are most important
• Budgets are shrinking for election officials and journalists

I would also add that election officials should always be up front when there is bad news. It gives you a chance to talk about your contingency plans! For example, if a storm knocks out power at a polling place, talk about how voting continued using flashlights. Negatives can sometimes be positives and provide an opportunity to educate the public.

EAC will continue to host exchanges between journalists and election officials about finding modern and efficient ways to deliver timely and accurate information to voters. For more information read Communicating with the Public, chapter 14 of EAC’s Election Management Guidelines.

Visit the Standards Board meeting page to view all presentations, including ways to improve services for military and overseas voters, the use of COTS in elections and cost savings innovations in elections.
 

Name:

Location:

Email:

 

Comments:

1500 characters left

The purpose of this blog is to share useful, innovative and practical information about voting and elections with interested parties. EAC also intends to provide this forum to host conversations with the public. EAC encourages the submission of comments from the public and hopes that interested individuals will provide submissions on a regular basis. EAC also recognizes the value of providing this forum to facilitate discussions concerning best practices, solutions, and innovative ideas in election administration.

This is a moderated blog, and EAC will exercise discretion in determining which comments it will and will not post. As a moderated blog, EAC will review all comments before posting to ensure that commenters have complied with EAC’s Blog Code of Conduct. EAC’s decision to post or not post a comment is final and may not be appealed or reconsidered.

EAC expects that participants will treat each other, as well as our agency and our employees with respect. EAC recognizes that the Internet is a 24/7 medium and comments are welcome at any time; however, we will typically review and post comments only during normal business hours.

You may only submit a comment for posting on EAC’s blog if you are older than 13 years of age. You will be asked to re-type a grouping of letters and/or numbers, which indicates that you agree to EAC’s Code of Conduct and also serves as an affirmation that you are older than 13 years of age. Your comment will not be transmitted to EAC for review and posting unless and until you successfully re-type the grouping of letters and/or numbers provided on your comment submission form. Read the full policy.

We look forward to reviewing your comments!

Please input the text and numbers that you see above into the following box in order to post your comment.

 

Comments (0)