On Wednesday, House Administration Commitee Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.) wrote to House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) requesting the additional $800 million that was authorized for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

“Congress must continue to support HAVA and take every reasonable step to ensure all Americans have confidence in the fairness and accuracy of our elections,” Millender-McDonald wrote. “Therefore, I respectfully request that you support fair and transparent elections by providing the $800 million balance of HAVA Title II payments due to the states.”

In the letter, Millender-McDonald said $3.9 billion was authorized for HAVA election improvement for fiscal years 2003 through 2005, but that Congress has appropriated only $3 billion of the funds.