Category Archives: Election Assistance Commission

See this press release.

The Orlando Sentinel reports.

Bloomberg BNA: “The House Elections Subcommittee, which handled campaign finance and other election-related issues in previous Congresses, has been eliminated in the new, 113th Congress, according to rules adopted Feb. 5 by the House Administration Committee. Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), the committee chairman, said that all matters previously handled by the Elections Subcommittee would now be handled directly by the full House Administration Committee.”

More: “Miller issued a statement last month saying Republican lawmakers continue to support simple elimination of the existing public financing system for presidential elections, as well as abolition of the EAC, the national clearinghouse that helps state and local officials improve voting systems. She said these moves would save taxpayers nearly $500 million and return $199 million to the U.S. Treasury.”

Gannett reports.  See also this release from Sen. Boxer, calling for Republicans to nominate members of the EAC.

National Journal reports.

Must-read Roll Call report on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the federal agency which is supposed to be advising on best practices in running elections, and would be a go-to place for guidance in the wake of Sandy, but which has all four of its commissioner seats vacant thanks to Republican opposition to the agency.

Al Kamen: “Wait, isn’t this an election year? The kind that will see voters stepping into booths and casting ballots, pulling levers and punching buttons? Bad timing then for the Election Assistance Commission to be completely leaderless. It’s the body that was created in the wake of the 2000 presidential election’s hanging-chad debacle and tasked with overseeing federal election standards.”

This is a theme of mine in The Voting Wars.  The EAC: what a lost opportunity.

This item appears in the latest edition of the indispensable (print-only) Election Administration Reports.  “The state election directors…adopted a two-page resolution (2012-1) asking the EAC to allow the important work of the boards to cintinue unimpeded.  On January 31, the National Association of Secretaries of State adopted an almost identical statute.”

It is an interesting position of NASS to take, to say the least, given that NASS has from day one passed resolutions urging for the EAC to be disbanded.  The current EAC has no commissioners, and you’d think that’s something NASS would celebrate.

Much more on this turf war coming in The Voting Wars.

UPDATE: Doug Chapin responds, seeing less hypocrisy than I do here.