EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | David Holtzman
Organization : | Holtzman Law
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
General Comments
Comment : | The VVSGs, as proposed, do not fulfill your HAVA Sec. 311 mandate. Your Federal Register notice says your proposed WSGs are proposed pursuant to Sections 221 and 222 of HA VA. The notice does not mention Section 311. Indeed, on page 116 (sec. 1.8) of the proposed VVSGs, you write, "EAC will issue guidance to interpret Section 301 (a)." [emphasis added] So the VVSGs are not guidance to interpret Section 301 (a), even though Section 311 requires you to issue such guidance, and you were, by the terms of Section 311, to have done so by January 1, 2004. Before you do so, you should not adopt the proposed WSGs. Your disclaimer that the WSGs "may represent a higher standard than what is required by Section 301(a)" suggests that you have not done your work interpreting Section 301 as mandated by Section 311. You are also required to study and report on absentee ballot postage. (HAVA Sec. 246) Have you done so? !fnot, you should do this mandated work before you finalize the proposed WSGs. (In this regard, you should recommend a free tracking system that allows voters to learn [via toll-free telephone or the Internet, as the voter prefers] where and when their ballots have been delivered, and if and when their ballots or signatures have been accepted as valid. You should also address the confidentiality of signatures on or in envelopes.) It may seem that you have implied authority to revise the VVSGs deemed adopted by HAVA Sec. 222(e), but you should do your mandated work first.