For those of you who don’t subscribe to the EAC press releases, this from Bryan Whitener
EAC Wrap-up from Austin, Texas
December 11, 2007 Public Meeting
Last week in Austin, Texas, the EAC held a public meeting and hosted meetings for its Board of Advisors and Standards Board. At the public meeting, Commissioner Rosemary Rodriguez was elected EAC chair, and Commissioner Caroline Hunter was elected vice-chair. Their terms begin in January 2008. The executive director and EAC staff provided year-end reports, and the executive director stated his intent to develop and issue internal procedures in January 2008 for the EAC’s Voting System Reports Clearinghouse. The director of the Voting System Testing and Certification Program announced that the draft Laboratory Accreditation Manual would be submitted for public comment.
The Commission voted unanimously to adopt the 2006 Election Administration and Voting Survey. (DISCLAIMER: I helped write this report). The Commission voted unanimously in favor of the EAC staff proposal to initiate the transfer of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) regulations from the Federal Election Commission. The Commission considered five requests from states to change the state instructions on the National Voter Registration Form. All five requests failed, with Commissioners Hillman and Rodriguez abstaining, citing the need to first adopt internal procedures regarding the processing of such requests. Commissioners Davidson and Hunter voted in favor of making the changes requested by the states. Click here for more information about the pending requests. The Commission discussed but did not consider an interim NVRA policy submitted by Commissioner Hillman.
To view the meeting agenda, related materials, proposals, and testimony, visit the December 11, 2007 Public Meeting page at www.eac.gov.
Standards Board and Board of Advisors Meetings
The Standards Board adopted 14 resolutions, and the Board of Advisors adopted 19 resolutions. These resolutions will be posted shortly on the Standards Board and Board of Advisors pages at www.eac.gov.
Roundtable Discussion
After the public meeting, EAC hosted a roundtable discussion about the proposed voluntary voting system guidelines. For more information, click here.