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      7              U.S ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

      8                        PUBLIC MEETING

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     10                    The Westin Crown Center

     11                        1 Pershing Road

     12                  Kansas City, Missouri 64108

     13                 Wednesday, April 18th, 2007

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     22     
            ATKINSON-BAKER, INC.
     23	    COURT REPORTERS
            (800) 288-3376
     24     www.depo.com
            
     25     FILE NO.:  A102E26
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      1          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  I'm going to start because

      2     of time crunches today, so I want to make sure that

      3     we're ready to go.

      4          Could I ask everybody to please put their cell

      5     phones on silence, please, and then we'll stand for

      6     the pledge of allegiance.

      7          I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United

      8     States of America, and to the republic for which it

      9     stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with

     10     liberty and justice for all.

     11          Thank you.

     12          I'd like to turn to Julie Thompson-Hodgkins,

     13     our chief counsel, for the roll call, and I would

     14     like to make one statement before she does that.

     15     You'll notice Commissioner Hillman is not present

     16     with us today.  I want you to know this is the very

     17     first meeting that she has missed, and it's because

     18     she's testifying on our behalf on the Hill, so

     19     sometimes we can't control all of our calendars and

     20     the events, but that's why she's not here, and it's

     21     the first one she's ever missed.

     22          I turn it to you, Julie.

     23          JULIE THOMPSON-HODGKINS:  Thank you, Madam

     24     Members.

     25          Please respond by saying "here" or "present"
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      1     when I call your name.

      2          Donetta Davidson, chair.

      3          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Here.

      4          JULIE THOMPSON-HODGKINS:  Rosemary Rodriguez,

      5     chair.

      6          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Here.

      7          JULIE THOMPSON-HODGKINS:  Madam Chair, there

      8     are three members present as a quorum.

      9          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Turning to Tab 1, you will

     10     find an agenda, and do I have a motion on the

     11     agenda?

     12          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  I move the adoption of the

     13     agenda.

     14          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you.  Second?

     15          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Second.

     16          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  All those in favor say

     17     "aye."

     18          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Aye.

     19          JULIE THOMPSON-HODGKINS:  Aye.

     20          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Opposed?

     21          The motion is carried.  Thank you.

     22          I would like to welcome everybody here.  Each

     23     and every one of you are very important to us at the

     24     EAC, and definitely it's an honor to be in Kansas

     25     City and having -- to have you as part of our public
                                                                    3


      1     meeting today.

      2          We have a full agenda, but I wanted to say a

      3     few words about our voter fraud and voter

      4     intimidation study and also the voter

      5     identification.  As I know you're all aware, we have

      6     been criticized about our activities lately, and I'm

      7     going to take the opportunity at our public meeting

      8     just to speak briefly about the process and the

      9     projects.

     10          Regarding the voter fraud and intimidation, EAC

     11     adopted an election crime study, and they -- or not

     12     a study but Election Crime, an Initial Review and

     13     Recommendations for Further Study.  A public meeting

     14     was held in December of 2006.  This report included

     15     information provided by the consultants and by

     16     staff.  It also includes all the information of more

     17     than 300 pages.  What the consultants reviewed, as

     18     well as their recommendations, is on our web.  We

     19     have been criticized for editing the consultants'

     20     information as well as not releasing all of the

     21     conclusions they reached.

     22          As for the Voter Identification Project last

     23     month, the EAC declined to adopt the information we

     24     received from the consultants due to concerns that

     25     we had on the methodology.  We voted to release
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      1     everything they provided to the public.  We have

      2     been criticized for not adopting it and for the way

      3     we managed our contractors.

      4          I understand these topics are very partisan and

      5     hotly debated.  I understand that the media,

      6     politicians and the bloggers have very strong

      7     opinions and are very passionate when it comes to

      8     these issues.  The EAC has been accused of being

      9     biased on politics, and there was only one response

     10     that we could take from that action.  That is why I

     11     and all the other commissioners agreed that our

     12     inspector general review the circumstances

     13     concerning the issuance, the management and the

     14     editing process surrounding these comments.  I

     15     stated in my request to the inspector general that

     16     it's my hope that the findings will instruct us how

     17     to move forward in a more transparent manner.  We

     18     will cooperate, obviously, with him.  And if he tell

     19     us changes need to be made, we will be making them,

     20     but I want to make a statement in public about our

     21     staff.

     22           Our staff works very hard, and they have very

     23     little -- they do not have enough staff to be able

     24     to handle the issues.  They are doing the work for

     25     probably three people, and I want it noted for the
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      1     public record that we appreciate what they do and

      2     the challenges they have faced ever since the day

      3     the doors were opened at the EAC.  So with that,

      4     keep in mind that we will update you on the progress

      5     of the inspector general's review, and we want to

      6     get this done as quickly as possible so we can

      7     concentrate solely on working to improve the

      8     election administration.

      9          You can always go to our website at www.eac.gov

     10     to view my request of the inspector general, the

     11     Election Crimes Report, and our statement regarding

     12     voter intimidation.  Thank you for listening, and

     13     now we'll continue on.

     14          We'll go right into old business and the

     15     minutes of our meeting on February the 8th, which is

     16     in Tab 2, which was held in Washington, D.C.  I'd

     17     like to open the floor to a motion.

     18          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  I move adoption of the

     19     minutes of the public meeting of February 8th, 2007.

     20          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Do I have a second to the

     21     motion?

     22          CAROLINE HUNTER:  I second the motion.

     23          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  All those in favor say

     24     "aye."

     25          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Aye.
                                                                    6


      1          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Aye.

      2          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Opposed?

      3          Now I also have the meeting that was held under

      4     Tab No. 3, which was the meeting at the Ritz Carlton

      5     that was held right before the standard board

      6     meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, February 21st.  I open

      7     the floor for a motion.

      8          CAROLINE HUNTER:  I move for the adoption of

      9     the minutes from the February 21st, 2007, EAC

     10     meeting.

     11          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  I second.

     12          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  All those in favor say

     13     "aye."

     14          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Aye.

     15          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Aye.

     16          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  The motion carries.

     17          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Madam Chair, may I ask

     18     that those both be binding by unanimous consent,

     19     both of those previous two motions?

     20          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Absolutely.  I don't see any

     21     problem.  That'd be fine.

     22          I turn now to Thomas Wilkey, which is our

     23     executive director, for our report.

     24          THOMAS WILKEY:  Thank you, Madam Chair.

     25          I'm pleased to report that there have been a
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      1     number of activities ongoing since our last report

      2     at the February meeting.  Our office of inspector

      3     general currently has a number of audits underway in

      4     the following states:  Maryland, Indiana, Virginia,

      5     Ohio, Wyoming, Kentucky, New Mexico, and Missouri,

      6     and you can follow the progress of those reports as

      7     they become available and any other reports that

      8     have been so far issued by going to our website at

      9     www.eac.gov and clicking on the area of inspector

     10     general, and all of those audits are available.

     11     They also contain information about our inspector

     12     general operation within the agency if anyone has

     13     questions or information.

     14          Once we get those reports, we are required to

     15     do a resolution to make sure that the findings in

     16     those reports are carried out, and it is my

     17     obligation under our regulations to make that

     18     resolution on working with the staff, and then

     19     if after the state reviews those, they have an

     20     opportunity to appeal to the commission if they so

     21     desire.

     22          Last month EAC completed audit resolutions in

     23     the following states.  These also are available on

     24     our website, eac.gov.  The following were completed

     25     last month:  California, Florida, Illinois,
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      1     Minnesota, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, and --

      2     I think I already said New Jersey.  Five other

      3     resolutions are in response to findings resulting

      4     from state single audits, and those are audits that

      5     are carried on by the states.  Each state that

      6     receives federal funding is required to have an

      7     audit of those funds, and our office of inspector

      8     general also monitors who does those audits and

      9     makes recommendations to us as well as the audits

     10     that we do.

     11          The states who have audit resolutions have 30

     12     days to appeal to the chair or the commission for

     13     action by the full commission.  Under our voting

     14     system certification program, nine voting system

     15     manufacturers have registered for EAC's testing and

     16     certification program.  Registration is the first

     17     step in a certification process.  It simply means

     18     that these companies are eligible to submit systems

     19     for certification, and I urge those, particularly

     20     those in the audience who will see this report on

     21     our website, that if they have questions about our

     22     certification program, that all of that information,

     23     including the accreditation of our labs, are up

     24     there for you to look through.

     25          We are still awaiting the final report from our
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      1     consultant as to the accreditation of the last

      2     application for interim accreditation, that is

      3     cyber.  We have not heard back.  We should hear very

      4     shortly upon that application, and it will be

      5     brought forth to the commissioners for whatever

      6     action they may take.

      7          Under HAVA funds management, EAC is responding

      8     to the agency's request to provide clarifications

      9     and corrections for reports filed from 2004 to 2006

     10     on the use of Title 1 funds and Title 2 requirements

     11     and payments.  Staff has also conducted a cursory

     12     initial review of reports filed this year regarding

     13     these HAVA funds.

     14          Reports on HAVA Title 1 reports, 101 and 102

     15     funds, were due February 28th, 2007, and cover

     16     activity during the last calendar year, January 1st

     17     of '06 through December 31st of '06.  Reports on the

     18     HAVA Title 2, Section 251 requirement payments were

     19     due March 30th, 2007, and cover activity during the

     20     last fiscal year from October of '05 to September of

     21     '06.

     22          EAC recently sent a letter to all chief state

     23     election officials reminding them of the HAVA Title

     24     1 reports due February 28th, 2007, and the HAVA

     25     Title 2 requirement payments due March 30th, 2007.
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      1     EAC continues to work with state election offices to

      2     obtain needy clarifications or corrections to past

      3     reports filed, and we did do a very comprehensive

      4     audit-taking during the fall and early winter to do

      5     a number of clarifications that need to be done on

      6     past reports and had a very successful training

      7     program for states at the National Association of

      8     Secretaries of State's meeting, and we will continue

      9     to do that.

     10           We continue to provide updates and some very

     11     excellent training materials that are on our

     12     website, and what we're finding is that the reports

     13     that we're now seeing coming through are in much

     14     better shape than they were previously.

     15          EAC has posted model financial reporting forms

     16     and sample supportive narratives on our website to

     17     help states prepare their reports correctly.  Also

     18     available on our website is the HAVA Funding FAQs,

     19     and it's a very comprehensive list of FAQs, which we

     20     update on a regular basis as states who have issues

     21     come up.

     22          Certainly and happily, on behalf of the staff,

     23     we welcome our two new commissioners, Rosemary

     24     Rodriguez and Carolyn Hunter.  This is their first

     25     public meeting as commissioners, and we welcome them
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      1     to the EAC.  And let me say on a personal note that

      2     I've had over the past several weeks an opportunity

      3     to get to know them, and I'm grateful to have their

      4     presence among us, and I'll have a little bit more

      5     to say about that later on, but welcome.  On behalf

      6     of the staff, it's good to have you with us.

      7          I also want to point out, even though it's not

      8     in the report, that our chair has been missing in

      9     action for the last three weeks.  She had a little

     10     surgery and has been back at home in Colorado.

     11     Since she spent many years on the ranch in the

     12     mountains of Colorado, I can say honestly that it's

     13     good to have her back in the saddle again.  We

     14     welcome you back, Madam Chair.  It's good to have

     15     you back with us and seeing you in good health.

     16          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you.

     17          THOMAS WILKEY:  That is my report.

     18          All the activities and information we update on

     19     our website.  We put out a monthly news bulletin to

     20     all of those listed.  If there are people here in

     21     the audience that are not on our mailing list to get

     22     all of these reports, please let me know, and we'll

     23     make sure you get on that list, but this is updated.

     24     Our website is continually updated, and our

     25     newsletter goes out on a regular basis.
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      1          That is my report, Madam Chair.

      2          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you.

      3          Is there any questions for Mr. Wilkey?

      4          Seeing no questions, we'll move into new

      5     business, which I have to say I agree with

      6     Mr. Wilkey.  This is our first time that we get to

      7     introduce our two new commissioners, and we're very

      8     pleased to have them aboard.  Obviously, having a

      9     full commission is very helpful, and they both come

     10     with excellent backgrounds, and we're fortunate to

     11     have them with the experience that they have.  So

     12     I'm going to give you a little bit of a background

     13     on each one of them, and Commissioner Rodriguez and

     14     Commissioner Hunter is the two that we have.  I

     15     think you can see by Commissioner Rodriguez's title

     16     that Commissioner Hunter is on my left.

     17           I'll first start with Commissioner Rodriguez,

     18     which I want you to know comes from also -- she

     19     knows about those mountain areas.  She's from

     20     Denver, Colorado, and we've worked together, and

     21     I'll go into that more a little bit later.

     22          Immediately prior to coming to the EAC,

     23     Commissioner Rodriguez served three years in the

     24     Denver city council where she served as president

     25     from 2005 to 2006.  She was the director of the
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      1     Board of Commissions for the mayor's office from

      2     2002 to 2003, and a clerk and recorder of the City

      3     and County of Denver where she was supervisor of

      4     city elections -- I mean, in 1997, and she served in

      5     that area from 1997 to 2002.

      6          If I'm wrong here, Rosemary, correct me.

      7     Commissioner Rodriguez, I should say.  I know her

      8     personally so this is a little hard.

      9          She has been active in numerous grassroot civic

     10     activities and voter advocacy organizations,

     11     including the Colorado Voter Initiative where she

     12     co-chaired a statewide initiative to allow election

     13     day voter registration.  She also was a cofounder

     14     and the chair of the Latinos Vote, a voter

     15     registration project to register Latino voters and

     16     provide nonpartisan election information to the

     17     Latino community.

     18          Commissioner Hunter, she comes to us from

     19     the -- to the EAC recently serving as the deputy

     20     director of the White House Office of Public Liaison

     21     from January to October of 2006.  From 2005 to 2006,

     22     she served as executive officer, let's see if I get

     23     this right, of the United States Homeland Security

     24     Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

     25     Prior to that, from 2001 to 2005, she was associate
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      1     counsel and then the deputy counsel at the

      2     Republican National Committee where she provided

      3     guidance on election law and the implementation of

      4     the Help America Vote Act.

      5          You can see they both come with very wide

      6     expertise, and we are fortunate to have them.

      7     Welcome to both of you.

      8          First, I'd like to turn it over to Commissioner

      9     Rodriguez to make a statement, and then I'll follow

     10     up with Mrs. Hunter.

     11          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you, Madam Chair.

     12     I'm very honored to be here today.  I never expected

     13     to be in this place, so I ask your indulgence.

     14     I wrote down my comments just so I wouldn't lose my

     15     thoughts because this is a very important position.

     16          Over the past month, as I've gotten to know my

     17     new colleagues, the commission staff, and have

     18     learned about their diverse backgrounds and

     19     experiences, I have grown to respect their abilities

     20     and appreciate their efforts in establishing a

     21     commission from scratch, and I would like to take

     22     this opportunity to thank them personally for

     23     welcoming me as a new member of the EAC.

     24          For most of you, except Mr. Mendoza back there,

     25     I am a stranger.  And so with your permission, I
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      1     will give a very brief summary of my qualifications.

      2          I'm a native of Denver.  I previously served as

      3     the clerk and recorder for the City and County of

      4     Denver.  I ran for elective office.  As the chair

      5     mentioned, was elected to the Denver city council.

      6     But long before I myself served in government, and

      7     for a span of more than three decades, I have

      8     performed volunteer work, much of which was for the

      9     purpose of increasing voter registration and voter

     10     empowerment.  As a volunteer, I came to learn that

     11     most of the people with whom I worked desperately

     12     wanted to participate in our democracy, but they did

     13     not have access to information, information that all

     14     of us here enjoy that allowed them to enter through

     15     the gateway of civic participation.  And among the

     16     most gratifying experiences of my life is helping

     17     people grasp the knowledge and tools that allow them

     18     to become fully participating citizens.

     19          I am one of four commissioners.  Like my

     20     colleagues, I hope to make a mark on the election

     21     process in this country, and the mark I hope to make

     22     is a simple one:  I want to continue to increase

     23     voter registration and voter empowerment.  Like many

     24     people, I have strong convictions about some things,

     25     and I will be honest with you.  When it comes to
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      1     elections, my foremost conviction is for the voter.

      2     I want eligible voters to have unfettered,

      3     uncomplicated, and unimpeded access to the voting

      4     booth.  That is not to say I am naive about the

      5     voting process.

      6          My experience as an election official has

      7     tempered my conviction with a real understanding of

      8     the challenges that election officials experience in

      9     day-to-day election operations, so I will not be

     10     looking to impose new and burdensome expectations on

     11     election officials.  I will, however, be looking for

     12     realistic, manageable ways to provide voters with

     13     the access that I hold so dear.

     14           A second conviction that I hold fiercely is

     15     that in general, decisions made by the government

     16     and in particular decisions made by the EAC should

     17     be done in the full light of day in as open and as

     18     transparent a process as possible.  For the most

     19     part, the processes of the EAC are done in sunshine,

     20     and I applaud their openness.

     21          The EAC does, however, have one process that is

     22     not open.  It is the practice of the tally vote.

     23     The tally vote is one that is circulated, generally

     24     agreed upon by consensus, and then made public.

     25     This is fine for routine decisions, but with respect
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      1     to policy decisions, I believe the EAC staff

      2     briefings and deliberations can be done on the

      3     record, and I hope there's interest among

      4     commissioners to discuss this issue.

      5          My final conviction, perhaps in fairness it

      6     should be called a "bias," has to do with the value

      7     of being an open-minded learner.  I appreciate those

      8     who are willing to discuss and to consider different

      9     points of view.  I appreciate those who when

     10     presented with a better option are able to recognize

     11     its value, and I appreciate those who when presented

     12     with an opportunity to improve the way in which

     13     things are done, take the opportunity.  I will work

     14     hard to be such a person.

     15          Thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to

     16     share some of my thoughts with you and with my

     17     colleagues and with the audience here today.

     18          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Ms. Hunter?

     19          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Thank you, Madam Chair, and

     20     thank you to my fellow commissioners, members of the

     21     staff and the public who have been so welcoming to

     22     me in my first few weeks as a new commissioner.  I

     23     really appreciate it, and to the outgoing

     24     commissioner, Paul DeGregorio, who was very gracious

     25     in helping me with the transition, providing a lot
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      1     of good guidance, and I thank him very much, and

      2     we're here in his home state today.

      3          It's an honor to serve on this commission.

      4     Election administrators are, obviously, a key part

      5     of our democracy, and I've had the privilege of

      6     working with many state and local election officials

      7     throughout my time as an elective.

      8          As somebody who spent a lot of time working in

      9     different election processes -- for example, I think

     10     it's important to note that a lot of different

     11     people rely on what the election administrators are

     12     doing, the laws and the rules that are set out in

     13     the states, and it affects everything from whether

     14     or not -- on how to place a candidate's name on a

     15     vote or how to conduct a voter registration drive.

     16          I think all of us bow down to thank all of you

     17     for the work you have done in this arena, and I look

     18     forward to working with you to increased civic

     19     activity and to ensure that every eligible voter has

     20     an opportunity to cast a ballot.

     21          The true work of an election administrator is

     22     nonpartisan in nature, and I look forward to working

     23     with our commissioners, my fellow commissioners, to

     24     improve the conduct of elections for all Americans.

     25     Thank you.
                                                                    19


      1          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Very nice.

      2          It looks like we have a little bit of

      3     competition next door, so I'll make sure I have my

      4     mike on.

      5          Next on the agenda -- as all of you have noted,

      6     we have been missing at the EAC a vice chair.  And

      7     since I took the chairmanship in January, we usually

      8     do it at the very same time.  So with that in mind,

      9     I would like to open the floor for nomination for

     10     vice chair.

     11          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Madam Chair, I would like to

     12     nominate Commissioner Rosemary Rodriguez as vice

     13     chairman of the U.S. Election Commission.  I know

     14     from personal experience, from having sat in on a

     15     media interview with Rosemary, that she will serve

     16     very well as a backup to you, Madam Chair, to

     17     provide opinions and advice from the commission to

     18     the press and to others, and she will be a capable

     19     chairman who may serve in your absence, Madam Chair.

     20     Thank you.

     21          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  I'd like to take this

     22     opportunity to second that nomination.

     23          As stated, Rosemary Rodriguez is from Colorado.

     24     She's a commissioner now, and I think it goes back I

     25     don't know how many years that Rosemary and I have
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      1     worked together, and we've known each other it seems

      2     like almost forever and working with her has been

      3     always an honor.  We served together as clerks in an

      4     association in Colorado, and then we also -- as I

      5     was secretary of state, working with her as a

      6     commissioner of elections, and she was also the city

      7     clerk at the same time.  That was a great honor.

      8     She was always very supportive to the organization

      9     in Colorado, of the Colorado Association of County

     10     Clerks and Recorders, and very, very active in that

     11     process.  So her input and everything has been very

     12     valuable from the very beginning, so it's an honor

     13     to have her at the commission, and I look forward to

     14     working with her in the future, and it also would be

     15     a great honor, and I second the nomination as vice

     16     chair of the Election Assistance Commission.

     17          Having a motion that is seconded, can I call to

     18     vote on the question?  All in favor?

     19          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Aye.

     20          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Aye.

     21          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Those opposed?  The motion

     22     carries.

     23          At this time I'd like to go back to Mr. Wilkey

     24     because Commissioner Hillman has a statement that

     25     I'd like to have read into the record that she made
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      1     for the meeting, and I think it's very valuable to

      2     put it in this place.

      3          THOMAS WILKEY:  Thank you, Madam Chair, I am

      4     pleased to read to you some remarks that have been

      5     written by Commissioner Gracia Hillman, who has

      6     asked that they be placed in today's meeting.

      7          It is with great regret that I am not able to

      8     be present at today's meeting of the U.S. Election

      9     Assistance Commission.  On one hand, I'm pleased to

     10     represent the commencement of today's congressional

     11     hearing on issues relating to accuracy and fairness

     12     in elections involving electronic voting systems.

     13     On the other hand, this is the first time, since the

     14     commission was appointed in December of 2003, that I

     15     will not be present at a meeting and not voting, and

     16     I regret that deeply.

     17          It is ironic that the conflict that prevents me

     18     from being present at EAC's meeting in Kansas City

     19     is an invitation from Missouri's own Congressman

     20     William Lacy Clay, who chairs the subcommittee that

     21     is holding today's hearings.  Nonetheless, I am

     22     there in commitment and spirit.  If I were there, I

     23     would reiterate my appreciation to Rosemary

     24     Rodriguez and Carolyn Hunter for their willingness

     25     to serve on the commission and offer them a warm
                                                                    22


      1     public welcome.

      2          I would have enthusiastically insisted that I

      3     be able to place Commission Rodriguez's name in

      4     nomination to serve as EAC vice chair for 2007, and,

      5     of course, I would have voted a resounding yes on

      6     the motion to elect.

      7          I would also express my profound thanks to

      8     Edgardo Cortes, Laiza Otero, the members of the EAC

      9     Spanish language working group, and all the EAC

     10     staff who have helped produce the 2007 Glossary of

     11     Key Election Terminology in Spanish with appropriate

     12     English to Spanish and Spanish to English

     13     translations.  Their commitment to accuracy and

     14     detail has produced a very fine product.  Assuming

     15     that no one -- no unexpected developments on this

     16     glossary were to occur at today's meeting, I would

     17     have voted to adopt the glossary as a key reference

     18     for election officials throughout the country.

     19          Additionally, I would express continued

     20     appreciation to Connie Schmidt, Brit Williams and

     21     the EAC staff for their tireless work to produce the

     22     first-ever comprehensive management guidelines to

     23     bring the people's side of election administration

     24     in line with the proper and accurate functioning of

     25     voting systems.
                                                                    23


      1          And in closing, I would like to offer my views

      2     on the criticism that EAC is currently receiving for

      3     its handling of research data that has been

      4     developed by consultants.  Congress, the public, and

      5     the EAC commissioners have a right to know the

      6     facts.  Therefore, I support the request for EAC's

      7     inspector general to investigate the issues of this

      8     matter and the processes used by EAC to procure,

      9     review, and report contracted research.

     10          I ask the inspector general to please report

     11     his findings at the earliest possible date.  I also

     12     urge EAC to help end the criticisms of us by

     13     releasing all of the information we receive from

     14     consultants on our Election Crimes Research Project.

     15          My further thoughts and views on this matter

     16     are contained in statements that I issued this week

     17     and in December, 2006, and are posted on my web page

     18     at eac.gov.  To all of my colleagues attending the

     19     election centers meeting, I extend profound

     20     appreciation and respect for the work you continue

     21     to do day in and day out.

     22          I also appreciate the invitation to appear at

     23     your meeting and regret that I am not able to be

     24     there.  My very best wishes to all, Commissioner

     25     Gracia Hillman.
                                                                    24


      1          Thank you, Madam Chair.

      2          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you.

      3          Are you able to go a little bit longer?  Or we

      4     could rest and take a break.

      5          THE COURT REPORTER:  I'm fine.

      6          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  All right.  We were going to

      7     take a break.  It's always important -- we need to

      8     keep this in mind for our translators.

      9          I am going to move forward then, and I'm going

     10     to ask Edgardo Cortes and Laiza Otero to come

     11     forward to be the presenters.  As they are moving

     12     forward, I would like to introduce my colleagues for

     13     their presentation.  I'd like to commend them on

     14     their hard work that they have done on this process.

     15     The EAC staff that was led by Edgardo Cortes and

     16     Ms. Otero has worked really hard in getting the

     17     product out, and I would just like to thank them for

     18     their hard work this year.  As you will see as I

     19     introduce them, they have many duties at the EAC.

     20     This is not the only one.

     21          Edgardo Cortes joined the EAC about a month

     22     before I did in July of 2005 as election research

     23     specialist.  He's responsible for ensuring the EAC

     24     oversight of the $3 million budget that the federal

     25     government is funding to provide states under the
                                                                    25


      1     Help America Vote Act.  This includes analyzing

      2     state spending of the HAVA funds, resolutions of

      3     financial audits and assisting in developing agency

      4     interpretation and guidance on complying with the

      5     mandates of HAVA.  Mr. Cortes has been a vital part

      6     of the team and has worked on the election

      7     terminology glossary and is a member of the Hispanic

      8     language working group.

      9          Ms. Laiza Otero has served on the staff at the

     10     EAC since April of 2005, just a little bit before.

     11     Ms. Otero currently assists the EAC in coordinating

     12     of the agency's programs relating to development of

     13     Election Management Guidelines -- that's a big one,

     14     folks -- and the language working groups and the

     15     establishment of the EAC program for the testing and

     16     certification of voting systems and accrediting the

     17     test laboratories as required by HAVA.

     18          Welcome to both of you.  We look forward to

     19     your presentation.

     20          I'll first turn it to you, Edgardo Cortes.

     21          EDGARDO CORTES:  Thank you, Madam Chair, and

     22     thank you, Commissioners.  It's my pleasure to be

     23     here today to present what we believe will quickly

     24     become an invaluable tool to election officials

     25     around the country.
                                                                    26


      1          I'm sorry you have to turn around.

      2          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Am I in the way?

      3          EDGARDO CORTES:  No.

      4          Let me start with some background here.

      5     Essentially, there's two sections of HAVA, Sections

      6     241(b)(5) and 241(b)(14), that charge the EAC with

      7     studying and promoting methods of ensuring

      8     accessibility to voting -- I'm sorry, of voting,

      9     registration, polling places and voting equipment to

     10     all voters, and that includes Native American and

     11     Alaskan Native citizens and voters with limited

     12     proficiency in the English language.  We're also

     13     charged with studying the technical feasibility of

     14     providing voting materials in eight or more

     15     languages for voters who speak those languages and

     16     who have limited English proficiency.

     17          Aside from those mandates under HAVA, there's

     18     also an Executive Order 13166 that basically charges

     19     all federal agencies that provide financial

     20     assistance to issue guidance on how recipients of

     21     that assistance can take reasonable steps to provide

     22     meaningful access to people with limited English

     23     proficiency.

     24          Now, in order to meet these mandates, the EAC

     25     has established what we're now calling the "Language
                                                                    27


      1     Assistance Program."  The Language Assistance

      2     Program consists of working groups that are

      3     comprised of local election officials, congressional

      4     staff members, national advocacy groups, research

      5     and public policy organizations, and those working

      6     groups are designed to give the EAC feedback and

      7     ideas to help us meet our language accessibility

      8     mandates.

      9          In addition, the Language Accessibility Program

     10     will provide resources in multiple languages to

     11     election officials, voters and advocacy

     12     organizations, including the glossary that we're

     13     presenting today.

     14          Now, I want to -- we have here some charts from

     15     the U.S. Census Bureau that kind of give you an idea

     16     of the impact -- or the potential impact that this

     17     has.  This maps shows the percent of people five

     18     years or older who speak English less than very well

     19     as of 2005.  That's the most recent data that we

     20     have.  You can see here there's -- just about every

     21     state has some to a certain degree, but there are a

     22     number of states, particularly in the southwest and

     23     the northeast, where those numbers are extremely

     24     high.

     25          The next one is the percent of people five
                                                                    28


      1     years or older who speak a language other than

      2     English at home.  As you can see, this also has a

      3     very large percentage of states who have this

      4     present in their populations.

      5          To kind of personalize this, I grew up in a

      6     household where -- I grew up in New Jersey, and I

      7     did not learn to speak English until I went to -- or

      8     I started going to kindergarten, and so it is

      9     something that even though people are born in the

     10     U.S. and are born citizens does not necessarily mean

     11     that they grow up speaking English, and so the

     12     importance of this is something that we think is

     13     far-reaching.

     14          Okay.  Now, in terms of the Language Assistance

     15     Program, because of our limited resources and

     16     because of the responsibilities that we have, we

     17     have limited our activities to the languages covered

     18     under Sections 203 and 404 of the Voting Rights Act.

     19     Those languages are Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese,

     20     Korean, Tagalog, and there are several Native

     21     American and Alaskan languages that are covered.

     22     I'll talk more about those in a little bit.

     23          Again, as I said, the purposes of the program

     24     is to provide resources to election officials to

     25     meet the needs of voters who have limited
                                                                    29


      1     proficiency in the English language and who also are

      2     hoping to create some products designed to help make

      3     the process of elections open to all citizens

      4     regardless of their native language.  These are some

      5     of the projects that we have been working on:  The

      6     glossary, which we are presenting today; the

      7     National Mail-In Voter Registration Form is also

      8     what we're dealing with through our Language

      9     Assistance Program, the EAC website, and the

     10     language working groups, which I just mentioned.

     11          In terms of the Language Accessibility Program

     12     working groups, we have -- so far we have two

     13     working groups.  We are looking towards a third

     14     working group later this year, but the EAC convened

     15     the first meeting of the Spanish language working

     16     group in August of 2005 to discuss a variety of

     17     issues impacting Spanish-speaking voters in the

     18     country.  The agenda for that meeting included a

     19     wide range of issues from the impact of provisional

     20     voting on Spanish-speaking voters to the readability

     21     and usability of the National Voter Mail-In

     22     Registration.

     23          The group had wide representation, including

     24     representatives from the National Council of La

     25     Casa, the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, the
                                                                    30


      1     Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund,

      2     the National Association of Latino Elected

      3     Officials, IFES, the William C. Velazquez Institute,

      4     the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the

      5     Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute,

      6     representatives from the Los Angeles County Clerks

      7     and Recorders office, staff from the offices of

      8     Senator Mel Martinez and Representative Charlie

      9     Gonzalez.

     10          Our reason for beginning with the Spanish

     11     language was a very practical one.  No. 1, it's the

     12     second-most spoken language in the U.S., and also

     13     the other very practical reason was that myself and

     14     Laiza Otero are native Spanish speakers and have had

     15     experience dealing with providing election materials

     16     in the Spanish language prior to coming to the EAC,

     17     and so we thought having the expertise in-house to

     18     work on this subject was the best way to start.

     19          Our second language working group was brought

     20     together in May of 2006 and focused on the five

     21     Asian languages covered under the Voting Rights Act:

     22     Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog,

     23     which is spoken in the Philippines.  This working

     24     group focused on shared concerns of the Asian and

     25     Pacific Islander American communities as well as the
                                                                    31


      1     different concerns impacting specific ethnic

      2     communities under that umbrella.  The group

      3     consisted again of local election officials and

      4     national advocacy groups.  Again, we had the Los

      5     Angeles County Clerk and Recorders Office.  They, I

      6     believe, provide assistance in -- I think they are

      7     up to 12 or 13 languages now.

      8          We also had someone from the King County

      9     Washington Elections Office, National Organization

     10     of the APIA Vote, as well as a variety of local

     11     advocacy groups focused on these specific languages.

     12     The meeting again included extensive discussion on

     13     the national Voter Registration Act and the

     14     availability of voter registration forms in the

     15     covered Asian languages.

     16          The other issue that was touched on was the

     17     issue of implementation of state-wide voter

     18     registration databases and how that impacted members

     19     of the Asian and Pacific Islander American

     20     communities in terms of potentially reversing names

     21     when putting -- you know, when entering into a

     22     statewide database and the problems that that caused

     23     for matching protocols.  That essentially is my

     24     piece of it.

     25          My coworker, Laiza Otero, is going to now
                                                                    32


      1     present you the actual finished product -- her

      2     almost finished product that we have and talk to you

      3     a little bit about the process that we went through

      4     in coming up with it.

      5          LAIZA OTERO:  Thank you very much, Edgardo, and

      6     thank you very much for being here and presenting on

      7     this project which is very near and dear to my

      8     heart, and I'm just -- I want to give you a little

      9     bit of background information.

     10          As you can see from the screen, in 1979, the

     11     Federal Election Commission published a series of

     12     reports under the National Clearinghouse on Election

     13     Administration to assist election officials in their

     14     efforts to provide election services to groups

     15     identified by Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act

     16     as language minorities.

     17          The purpose of the reports was to provide

     18     guidance to state and local officials for, one,

     19     identifying their language minority populations;

     20     two, providing bilingual registration services, and,

     21     three, providing bilingual balloting services.  The

     22     public education consists of a three-volume series.

     23     Aside from the glossary that we have updated here

     24     today, there was a handbook of ideas for local

     25     election officials and a state-of-the-art report.
                                                                    33


      1          When it was first produced, the ideas and

      2     accommodations contained in them, in these reports,

      3     were not designed as legal guidelines for complying,

      4     for instance, with the Voting Rights Act, nor were

      5     election officials required to consider or adopt

      6     them, and the update of this glossary, we still

      7     abide by that, and these are just guidelines and

      8     accommodations and hopefully to standardize some of

      9     the Spanish language translations that we have

     10     across the nation.

     11          As you can see, twenty-eight years has passed

     12     since the first publication of this glossary.  Since

     13     then, significant changes have occurred in the

     14     administration of elections, including its

     15     terminology.

     16          When we held the first two language working

     17     groups, we put the idea of updating the glossary to

     18     the groups, and they both thought that this was a

     19     much-needed resource in all languages, and Spanish

     20     is the first one for the reasons that Mr. Cortes

     21     explained that we would work on because it will

     22     facilitate working -- doing the translation into the

     23     other five Asian languages and perhaps maybe someday

     24     working with nonwritten languages and how we go

     25     about accomplishing that.
                                                                    34


      1          Once we got the approval from the working

      2     groups, we proceeded, the staff at the EAC -- we

      3     took the glossaries provided by L.A. County and also

      4     the Department of Justice and incorporated those and

      5     updated the list.  We awarded a contract for

      6     translation services and had the language

      7     translators go out and research each of the fifty

      8     states and the District of Columbia and the four

      9     U.S. territories to see what informational materials

     10     they had on their websites, what common words -- key

     11     words were found that were not currently in the

     12     glossary and other phrases as well.

     13          Once they reviewed those, they provided us with

     14     a list.  We looked at them and reviewed them and

     15     approved them and inserted it and came out with a

     16     final list, which then they proceeded to translate.

     17          I want to point out, and for the benefit of the

     18     public as well, is that we do have a copy here of

     19     what the final material we're hoping to publish

     20     looks like.  As you can see also from the prototype

     21     that I have given to you of what it'll look like,

     22     the guide goes from English to Spanish as well as

     23     from Spanish to English, which is a new feature

     24     because the original publication went from English

     25     into Spanish, and we considered that going from
                                                                    35


      1     Spanish into English would be a great resource for

      2     voters as well in learning the complicated

      3     terminology of elections, which as we're all aware,

      4     just gets more complicated and more technical.  I

      5     always have the habit of keeping a dictionary, a

      6     thesaurus and a Spanish dictionary and a

      7     Spanish-English dictionary just to make sure that

      8     information we provided is accurate and culturally

      9     and linguistically appropriate.

     10          I want to go into just a little bit about the

     11     contractors to ensure that the translations were

     12     culturally and linguistically appropriate.  Terms

     13     were translated by and reviewed by multi-dialects

     14     from the translators representing four of the major

     15     regions of origin of the Hispanic population living

     16     in the United States, that being Mexico, Puerto

     17     Rico, Cuba and Central America.  The translations

     18     were carefully reviewed by the translation team and

     19     the EAC staff to make sure they were appropriate in

     20     the context of elections, which is key.  At times

     21     more than one translation was considered to be

     22     appropriate and widely accepted.

     23          In such cases, all of the possible translations

     24     were included in the glossary and are left to the

     25     user and the election officials and their
                                                                    36


      1     translators to decide which translation suits his or

      2     her needs and the target population; however, the

      3     translation most commonly accepted and appropriate

      4     in the context of election is listed first, and we

      5     do mention this in the introduction to the glossary

      6     that we have drafted so far.

      7          For each entry, we provided the part of speech

      8     in italics immediately after the English term and

      9     gender.  For adjectives, we have listed them in

     10     their masculine form except when part of a phrase

     11     requires feminine or singular forms.  We established

     12     relationships between the terms, so, for example, if

     13     you go into the word "ballot," you see the

     14     translation, but it also says "see also," and it'll

     15     mention, for example, e-ballot, provisional ballot

     16     so that you can jump to the next one in case

     17     ballot -- or say it was not the item you were

     18     looking for.

     19          We have also in addition included terms from

     20     the EAC's 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines,

     21     and these have been included along with their

     22     definitions.  Since they are very exact definitions

     23     that we have provided, we wanted to carry those into

     24     the glossary so when translators and election

     25     officials were incorporating them into translated
                                                                    37


      1     election materials, they knew exactly what it was

      2     that we intended as a way of providing quality

      3     assurance.

      4          Once the glossary is adopted, if adopted by the

      5     commission, we would like to proceed with printing

      6     and distribution of the glossary through several

      7     means.  First of all, for those in attendance, who

      8     are at the meeting, we brought CDs, just in case,

      9     containing a copy of the material.  We have a

     10     sign-up sheet if people would like to receive a hard

     11     copy or a mailed copy.  We would go ahead with

     12     printing 4,000 copies of the glossary, and we would

     13     provide those to members of the EAC's language

     14     working groups along with all members of -- the EAC

     15     standards and advisory board members.

     16          We would collaborate with the Department of

     17     Justice under Section 203 and Section 4 covered

     18     jurisdictions, and those that have Spanish as the

     19     required language.  We would work with the U.S.

     20     Postal Service, election organizations such as The

     21     Election Center, NASS, NASED, IACREOT, NCSL, and

     22     NACO.  We would also work closely with election

     23     advocacy and registration groups that were not

     24     originally members of the language working groups

     25     because we want to make this as widely available as
                                                                    38


      1     possible.

      2          Aside from these recipients we would work

      3     with -- and I want to have their -- I'll try to do

      4     this.  Whoops, a technical difficulty.  We would

      5     work along with -- it's the federal Interagency

      6     Working Group on Limited English Proficiency, which

      7     includes members representing more than 35 federal

      8     agencies, and this is for -- to make the glossary

      9     available on their websites and to each of these

     10     agencies, and you have a slide up here of their home

     11     page.  It's a fantastic resource.

     12          I had an opportunity to participate in their

     13     annual conference this year, and they provided a lot

     14     of very useful information for helping again all

     15     limited English proficient -- not only voters but

     16     just for all sorts of public health services,

     17     whether it's medical, social services and legal, so

     18     it's an excellent resource.

     19          We also would work similarly with the Web

     20     Managers Advisory Council.  They have developed

     21     webcontent.gov, which we have a screen shot of it up

     22     here in the PowerPoint, which is an interagency

     23     group of about forty web managers from every cabinet

     24     level agency and many independent agencies.  They

     25     have developed an online guide that contains
                                                                    39


      1     information on grammar and style issues as well as

      2     glossaries to standardize the use of Spanish across

      3     government.

      4          In addition, EAC staff is also exploring the

      5     feasibility of having an online interactive version

      6     of the glossary, and that's, you know, something

      7     that we would definitely -- we would want the

      8     commission to consider, where anybody who comes into

      9     our website would be able to type in a word, let's

     10     say again "ballot," and it would give you the

     11     appropriate translation.  And if there's not a

     12     direct translation, at least bring up related or

     13     similar terms, and we think -- and we want to do

     14     this from either typing a word in English and also

     15     in Spanish since we are providing the glossary in

     16     this manner.

     17          This document is a living document.  It does

     18     not contain the entire world of elections, but I

     19     think we need to challenge Webster for that purpose.

     20     The field of elections is very dynamic.  And as time

     21     passes, it becomes more technical.  And we look

     22     forward, if adopted, again, to provide further

     23     iterations of this glossary.  In the meantime, what

     24     we would like to do, if possible, updates to the

     25     glossary through the interactive online glossary or
                                                                    40


      1     being able to put at least notices up on our website

      2     under a corresponding heading.

      3          We would also like to invite the public to

      4     provide comments, feedback, and useful information

      5     that they would like to provide us in how to make

      6     these glossaries more accessible, more useful, and

      7     how to continue improving them.

      8          There are probably plenty of words we have left

      9     out.  There are probably plenty of words that we

     10     will develop and come up with, and we would like to

     11     make sure that we have the appropriate language for

     12     that.

     13          As mentioned before, we would like to go ahead

     14     and translate these into Chinese, Japanese, Korean,

     15     Vietnamese and Tagalog.  As someone who was in

     16     charge of Section 203 in Berks County, Pennsylvania,

     17     I cannot tell you how useful these will be.

     18          I have had to sit down, actually, previously to

     19     do press releases in Spanish.  And for having a lack

     20     of my own dictionaries that I had at work, I turned

     21     to the glossary because -- I don't know about

     22     Edgardo, but I usually don't have words like

     23     "Voluntary Voting System Guidelines" in Spanish.

     24     How do you say that again?  So it's good to have a

     25     resource there readily available, so I can see this
                                                                    41


      1     just greatly helping serve state and local election

      2     officials in developing accurate, culturally

      3     linguistically appropriate material for anybody

      4     because I do find effective communication is a

      5     critical component for elections.

      6          Just briefly, up next in the EAC accessibility

      7     program, we are looking, as Mr. Cortes mentioned, to

      8     develop working groups to address the election needs

      9     of American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and we

     10     envision these groups being integral parts of

     11     developing materials for nonwritten languages.  We

     12     would collaborate with the Election Management

     13     Guidelines staff, who will be presenting briefly

     14     following our presentation, to dedicate a chapter in

     15     their guidelines and a Quick Start Management Guide,

     16     which I find very useful resources.

     17          At least when I started elections, I was just

     18     kind of thrown into the water.  You start and here

     19     you go, so it's going to be a benefit to have those

     20     materials again available on our website to

     21     everybody.

     22          Another upcoming task is the translation of the

     23     National Mail-In Voter Registration Form into the

     24     five Asian languages.  We have conducted most of the

     25     translation for that along with a contractor, but,
                                                                    42


      1     however, some changes have been done to the form for

      2     some instructions and updates, and we need to

      3     reflect those in the form before we put them out on

      4     our website, and the same with the Spanish.

      5          We expect to work closely with the members of

      6     the Asian languages when we do this to make sure

      7     that they are properly and accurately translated,

      8     especially, since we don't have in-house, as far as

      9     I know, anybody proficient in Tagalog or Japanese or

     10     Korean or any of the other two languages.  In the

     11     next several months, we will be offering our website

     12     in Spanish.  Much of the content has already been

     13     translated into the HAVA Funding Frequently Asked

     14     Questions, which was definitely quite interesting to

     15     translate.  I worked along with the contractor for

     16     that part.

     17          We also have had the pleasure of working with

     18     the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.  They have

     19     translated HAVA, which made our life much easier,

     20     and we would make that available on our website and

     21     hopefully at some point we would sit down and make

     22     sure that their translation reflects ours and how

     23     they compare with the glossary.

     24          I sincerely thank you for your time and

     25     dedication to providing resources to state and local
                                                                    43


      1     election officials.  This, I feel, is completely

      2     invaluable, and Edgardo and I and the EAC staff have

      3     worked on this.  We recommend that the commission

      4     both adopt the EAC election glossary as presented

      5     today and cause the glossary to be printed and

      6     distributed.

      7          We will gladly answer any questions you have

      8     about the glossary or the Language Accessibility

      9     Program and thank you.

     10          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you to both of you.

     11          I think the audience can understand how much

     12     work has gone into this process, and I would like to

     13     say to the audience, as soon as our budget allows,

     14     we do look forward to moving forward into our Asian

     15     languages and making sure that we have that done.

     16     Obviously, having the terminologies already laid

     17     out, the ones that had been identified, over 1,800

     18     of them, I think is what you said -- as we move

     19     forward, it makes it easier, that it's just

     20     translating of the same terms, so we do look forward

     21     and -- moving forward as fast as we can in those

     22     areas.

     23          First of all, I'd like to -- the staff has

     24     given us a recommendation, and I'd like to open up

     25     the floor for a motion on that recommendation.
                                                                    44


      1          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Madam Chair?

      2          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Yes.

      3          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  I move we adopt the 2007

      4     Glossary of Key Election Terminology in English to

      5     Spanish and Spanish to English.

      6          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you very much.

      7          Is there a second?

      8          CAROLINE HUNTER:  I second the motion.

      9          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you.

     10          I'd like to open it up for questions now before

     11     we take a vote so we can see if any of you have

     12     questions for the staff.

     13          The first thing that I would like to ask is in

     14     the Asian -- in your statement in the Asian

     15     community, there was concern about a voter

     16     registration database and how, you know, in terms of

     17     the last names, first names being so confused and

     18     maybe, you know, the possibility of disenfranchising

     19     voters is what we're always concerned with our

     20     database and not being able to find them because of

     21     the way they were put into the system.  Can you tell

     22     me more about what you've done and what we're going

     23     to do in that process or have you made any

     24     decisions?

     25          EDGARDO CORTES:  We actually took those
                                                                    45


      1     concerns under advisement when we put out -- the EAC

      2     has contracted with the National Academies of

      3     Science to do some further research into the

      4     state-wide voter registration databases as a

      5     follow-up to the guidance that the agency did early

      6     on for implementing those lists.  That's one of the

      7     issues that the National Academies is currently

      8     studying so that we can hopefully provide some

      9     guidance to the states on how to deal with that

     10     particular issue.

     11          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Very good.

     12          I'll turn to my fellow commissioners, if they

     13     have questions.

     14          Commissioner Hunter?

     15          CAROLINE HUNTER:  I think Rosemary --

     16          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Commissioner Rodriguez?

     17          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you, Madam Chair.

     18          There's a famous story about the Nova car.  It

     19     was a Chevrolet, and so Nova made this car, and then

     20     they went to sell it in Mexico, and Nova in Spanish

     21     means "no va," which means it doesn't go, so they

     22     couldn't sell this car, but can you just briefly

     23     address the difficulty in assuring that we are using

     24     the correct words in Spanish and then in Spanish

     25     within different countries of origin that you
                                                                    46


      1     referenced?

      2          LAIZA OTERO:  Okay, sure, gladly.

      3          As briefly mentioned, we looked at and we

      4     received technical proposals.  The approach of the

      5     contractor, the translation contractor, was taken

      6     into account because we wanted it to be reflective

      7     of all the different Latino populations living in

      8     the United States because they don't necessarily

      9     just fall under one umbrella.

     10          There are several Spanish-speaking countries as

     11     mentioned before, and looking at the four leading

     12     ones, the linguistics between people who live in

     13     Mexico, or originally from Mexico, and Cuba and

     14     Central America, they do all speak Spanish, but

     15     there are variations somewhat akin to, let's say,

     16     somebody from the northeast would have with somebody

     17     from Missouri, or if you go out to Washington,

     18     there's slight variations which at times lead to

     19     slight misunderstandings, if not big

     20     misunderstandings, so we made sure that the

     21     contractor understood that, so they provided that

     22     team approach to the translations, and then Edgardo

     23     and I made sure that they fit then into the context

     24     with the other voter registration groups and myself,

     25     working with a local entity that had to comply with
                                                                    47


      1     Section 203 guidelines, so we then ensured that.

      2          To somewhat preempt the question how we're

      3     going to do that with the Asian language working

      4     groups, we again will work closely with the members

      5     that we have currently on the language working

      6     groups, the Asian ones, to work with them to

      7     identify people who can provide assistance to us in

      8     that manner, but we will also work with contractors

      9     to make sure they have that team approach to this,

     10     so there was a lot of vetting, a lot of reviewing

     11     and analysis looking through all the 1800 terms,

     12     just from the English to the Spanish and then back

     13     on the Spanish to the English; it was quite tedious

     14     but very rewarding, so...

     15          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you.

     16          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Okay.

     17          Ms. Hunter?

     18          CAROLINE HUNTER:  I just want to make a comment

     19     and thank you very much for your work on this.  I

     20     think it's a much-needed resource, and particularly

     21     for persons who are being naturalized, you know, in

     22     record numbers from the Hispanic community, so I

     23     appreciate your work in this regard.

     24          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  I think that we're very

     25     proud of it.  I mean, we even saved paper because
                                                                    48


      1     when you look at it on one side, it's Spanish, it's

      2     all in Spanish, and you turn it over to the other

      3     side, everything is in English, so you have one book

      4     that includes both, so when you get it, I think

      5     it'll be very helpful that you'll find you don't

      6     have to pull, you know, two different books.  I

      7     commend the staff for coming up with the idea of

      8     doing it in that manner.  I think it definitely will

      9     save us a few trees, obviously.

     10          The other statement I'd like to make before we

     11     take a vote is definitely it will have to be updated

     12     quite often, and I think that the public needs to be

     13     aware of that because even with the Voluntary Voting

     14     System Guidelines that we're doing, a new iteration

     15     on the VVSG, there's new terminology that's coming

     16     out now and definitions.  So I see that this will be

     17     something that's going to be an ongoing project as

     18     we move forward, so it's nice to be able to have one

     19     step of it done, though.

     20          So having a motion that has been made and a

     21     second, I would like to open it up for the vote.

     22     All those in favor say "aye."

     23          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Aye.

     24          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Aye.

     25          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Opposed?
                                                                    49


      1          The ayes have it, and we now have a new

      2     document that we can get out on our web and get it

      3     to anybody who wants it.  This is a major step

      4     forward, and, obviously, anything that we can do to

      5     assist the election officials and the public, I

      6     think is a worthwhile cause.  Thank you very much

      7     for your presentation, and we'll now take a

      8     ten-minute break.

      9          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Madam Chair, before we

     10     break -- if I may, before we break, I wrote a

     11     statement about it.  I won't read it.  I'll simply

     12     say -- can you tell I'm excited to have this job?

     13     But this is one of the, again, things that I hold

     14     very dear to my heart, so I will put it on the EAC

     15     website but won't read it at this time.  This is a

     16     very important function, and I too thank the staff.

     17          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Mr. Edgardo?

     18          EDGARDO CORTES:  Madam Chair --

     19          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  I'm sorry, Cortes.

     20          EDGARDO CORTES:  I just want to reiterate what

     21     Laiza said earlier.  If there's anybody here that

     22     would like to request a hard copy, we do have a

     23     sign-up sheet.  Since we're going to send these out

     24     to print as soon as those are ready, people can sign

     25     up or email us at the EAC, and we'll make sure to
                                                                    50


      1     get those copies out to them as soon as they are

      2     printed.

      3          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you.  I think my

      4     antibiotics is having an effect on my mind, so I

      5     apologize.

      6          Mr. Wilkey, comment?

      7          THOMAS WILKEY:  Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.

      8          I can't let these two individuals sit at the

      9     table without making at least a personal comment and

     10     then making an observation.

     11          I don't consider myself a particularly bright

     12     guy most of the time, but two days after I arrived

     13     at the EAC in June of 2005, a young man by the name

     14     of Edgardo Cortes showed up in my office for an

     15     interview, and the Holy Spirit must have been with

     16     me that day because I think you can see the quality

     17     of the individual that has been working on this

     18     together with Laiza.

     19          You know, we have talked -- we've made

     20     reference today about some of the issues that have

     21     come up lately at the EAC.  We seem to be in the

     22     news often as of late.  You know, having friends

     23     around this nation after being around for as long as

     24     I have, I get a lot of calls saying, How are you

     25     managing to hold up under all of this?  And my
                                                                    51


      1     response is very quick.  I have four outstanding

      2     commissioners who support me every day, and I have

      3     an awesome, absolutely awesome group of people that

      4     I am fortunate enough to work with.  They are around

      5     this room.  They are at this table.  They are at

      6     this table.  You're going to hear from another one.

      7     They are back in Washington.  That is what makes you

      8     come in and do the kind of work you're going to do

      9     even in the face of some of the issues that we're

     10     going through.

     11          One of the comments that I would like to make,

     12     and I need your feedback on, is that, you know, I

     13     have a great deal of interest in literacy.  If I get

     14     to retire again, it's probably an area I may have

     15     some time to work in.  Was this a consideration as

     16     you worked with these groups because I know -- I

     17     didn't get a chance to sit through all of the

     18     meetings -- or is this something that you both feel

     19     we need to work on across-the-board, not just with

     20     the Latino community but with the Asian community,

     21     others?  And we know we have within the

     22     English-speaking community a very, very dismal

     23     literacy problem in our country, and I'm looking

     24     forward to having your recommendations in that area

     25     as we move forward.  But was that part of the
                                                                    52


      1     conversation?

      2          EDGARDO CORTES:  I will admit it was not a big

      3     part of the conversation.  Well, there's two things:

      4     No. 1, we did try to make the language and the

      5     translations that we picked the most accessible and

      6     widely-used translations.  The other thing that

      7     we're hoping to do with it, as Laiza mentioned

      8     during her presentation, is really standardize some

      9     of the language because we have right now,

     10     particularly with even a term like "ballot," wide

     11     disagreement and different usage across the country,

     12     and so you have the issue of people that, you know,

     13     are living in the northeast, and they pick up and

     14     they move, and they go to California, and they get

     15     this election material that's been translated, and

     16     they don't know what's being presented to them

     17     because the terms are so widely different.

     18          So in terms of making it more accessible, we

     19     are hoping to standardize some of those things, some

     20     of the terminology.  I think it is something that's

     21     important, and it is something we need to address in

     22     the future, but I don't think it's specific to just

     23     Spanish language.  I think you're right.  It's

     24     something that's going to be across-the-board in

     25     terms of the materials that we present.
                                                                    53


      1          Laiza mentioned one of the things with our

      2     American Indian, Alaskan Native working group -- one

      3     of the things that we'll touch on, aside from the

      4     different written languages, are how do you deal

      5     with populations that don't have a written language?

      6     And I think that can also be extended into, Well,

      7     how do you deal with populations that can't read

      8     even if there is a written language?  How do you

      9     deal with that?  So those are issues that we're

     10     looking at.  We haven't gotten too far into that

     11     process, but it is something that we're cognizant

     12     of.

     13          LAIZA OTERO:  And just to enhance, I think

     14     that's why also it's important that we're going to

     15     make it available through the federal Interagency

     16     Working Group on Limited English Proficiency on

     17     webcontent.gov because we'll make it available to

     18     all federal agencies, especially for those in

     19     particular working with social services who deal

     20     with -- and also who deal with populations that have

     21     a low literacy.  As soon as we start distributing

     22     and making this available and teaching the language

     23     of elections to people, it will help address some of

     24     those issues.

     25          THOMAS WILKEY:  Thank you.  Thanks, Madam
                                                                    54


      1     Chair.

      2          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  It is a normal process to

      3     look to our executive director and our counsel for

      4     comments, and I apologize for not doing that before

      5     I took the vote.  But before I go to Commissioner

      6     Rodriguez:  Our counsel, Julie Hodgkins, do you have

      7     any comments or questions?

      8          JULIE THOMPSON-HODGKINS:  Madam Chair, thank

      9     you.

     10          I just have a brief comment.  You know, I want

     11     to echo the comments of the commissioners and thank

     12     you for your hard work and just to point out that

     13     this is a great example of how EAC can help election

     14     officials.  This is a legal requirement for many

     15     election jurisdictions and looking forward to the

     16     2010 census is likely going to be a requirement for

     17     many more, and I think this is a wonderful tool that

     18     those folks can use to get themselves in compliance

     19     with the Voting Rights Act.  Thank you.

     20          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Commissioner Rodriguez?

     21          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you, Madam Chair.

     22          Mr. Wilkey jogged my memory.  In my previous

     23     life, I was a member of the National Association of

     24     Latino Elected Officials board, and we were part of

     25     the working group for this glossary.
                                                                    55


      1          During the reauthorization of the Voting Rights

      2     Act and amendments in 2006, we learned that those

      3     native Spanish speakers who want to learn to speak

      4     English sometimes have to wait up to six years to

      5     get into a course, an English-language course,

      6     because of waiting lists in the various states.  The

      7     range went from six months to six years, and so even

      8     if you want to learn -- if English is not your first

      9     language and you want to learn English, sometimes

     10     you have to wait years and years to do this, so I

     11     really again -- that underscores again the need for

     12     this glossary.  Thank you.

     13          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you very much.

     14          At this time, we're going to take a ten-minute

     15     break, and we'll come back, and we'll have our next

     16     presentation.  So we'll set up for that while we're

     17     on break.  Thank you very much.

     18                  (A break was taken.)

     19          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  I'd like to bring the

     20     meeting back to order.  We're going to start our

     21     briefing on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission

     22     Management Guidelines that we have this afternoon.

     23     First, I'd like to introduce everybody at the table

     24     and give you a brief synopsis of their ability and

     25     what they've done for the EAC.
                                                                    56


      1          First of all, Brian Hancock.  Brian, as you've

      2     heard me say in the past, has over 20 years of

      3     experience with elections in the field of

      4     administration and -- voting system administration

      5     and certification.  He has the responsibility for

      6     the EAC's voting system certification program, and

      7     he serves as the lead contact in the Election

      8     Management Guidelines.  And some of you may ask why,

      9     but the reason is is the Election Management

     10     Guidelines really is a companion document that

     11     complements the technical nature of the VVSG.  This

     12     is a tool that our executive director has always

     13     wanted to be able to do, and now we're moving

     14     forward at the EAC.  This tool will help election

     15     officials put procedures into place in their

     16     respective jurisdictions.

     17          So the next one I'd like to introduce is,

     18     obviously, Laiza Otero, and you heard the background

     19     information on her.  You can see how we use our

     20     staff in so many different areas in the office and

     21     how much responsibility that they have.

     22          Next I'd like to introduce Connie Schmidt.

     23     Connie served as election commissioner for Johnson

     24     County, Kansas, from 1995 to 2004, retiring in

     25     December of 2004, with 31 years of service to her
                                                                    57


      1     local government in Kansas.

      2          We're close to Johnson County, aren't we,

      3     Connie?

      4          CONNIE SCHMIDT:  We are.

      5          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  She also served at The

      6     Election Center professional education program, and

      7     she's a past member of NASED Voting Systems

      8     Standards Board.  At the state level, she served as

      9     a member of the Kansas HAVA Implementation

     10     Committee, and also in December of 2004, she

     11     received the honor from the National Association of

     12     Secretaries of State -- the Medallion Award for

     13     outstanding service to American democracy.  She's a

     14     current co-manager in the development of the

     15     Election Management Guidelines for the U.S. Election

     16     Assistance Commission.

     17          Next is Brit Williams.  Brit is professor of

     18     Computer Science/Information Systems at Kennesaw

     19     University, and he has worked in this field, in

     20     computing, since 19-, should I say, -57.  He's a

     21     director -- he has been a director of large

     22     communication centers and computer networks in

     23     industry, government, and the academic world.

     24          One of his primary recent interests since 1986

     25     has been the computer-based voting systems.  He was
                                                                    58


      1     a consultant to the FEC during the development of

      2     the 1990 Voting Systems Standards and the 2002

      3     Voting Systems Standards.  He's a member of the

      4     NASED Voting Systems Board and chairs the NASED

      5     Voting Systems Board Technical Committee, from their

      6     inception until 2007.  He represents NASED on the

      7     Technical Guideline Development Committee, which

      8     works with NIST in developing the next generation,

      9     obviously, of the VVSG.

     10          Dr. Williams' certification involvement of

     11     computer-based voting systems for the state of

     12     Georgia has been since 1986.  So he's been involved

     13     with the computerization side of elections for a

     14     great number of years.

     15          So I'm going to start with opening it up for

     16     comment from Mr. Hancock, and we will proceed.

     17     Thank you.

     18          BRIAN HANCOCK:  Thank you, Madam Chair, and

     19     thank you and welcome to our board of commissioners.

     20          I appreciate the opportunity to update you all

     21     on our management guidelines program today.  I'm

     22     going to give you a little background on our

     23     program, where we've come from.  Next, you'll hear

     24     from Dr. Williams and Ms. Schmidt on some of the

     25     details of the current chapters of the volume, and
                                                                    59


      1     Laiza will complete our presentation by trying to

      2     look forward a little bit and discuss where we might

      3     be going for the remainder of this project.

      4          As you noted, Madam Chair, with the adoption

      5     and publication of the Voluntary Voting Systems

      6     Guidelines in 2005, the EAC considered and approved

      7     the development of a set of election management

      8     guidelines to complement the VVSG technical

      9     standards for voting equipment.

     10          Prior to this effort, election officials had to

     11     depend on materials developed and shared almost

     12     exclusively at the state and local levels.  The need

     13     for national guidelines had long been recognized by

     14     election officials across the country, but it's only

     15     now that a federal agency is able to devote the time

     16     and resources needed for the development and

     17     distribution of such a document.

     18          The creation of the Election Management

     19     Guidelines, or EMG for short, is a priority activity

     20     under the EAC's national clearinghouse role to

     21     promote the effective administration of elections.

     22     A long-term goal of the EMG is to provide a

     23     compendium of Election Management Guidelines into

     24     one document to assist state and local election

     25     officials to more effectively manage and administer
                                                                    60


      1     elections.  The EAC expects the full set of

      2     guidelines to be completed by the end of 2008.

      3          Because of the urgency for resources to assist

      4     election officials, the Election Management

      5     Guidelines has been divided into subject matter

      6     modules so that chapters on particular topics to be

      7     completed on a priority basis and be distributed to

      8     the election community as soon as they are

      9     completed.

     10          In addition, the project team has developed

     11     what have come to be known as "Quick Start Guides"

     12     for each of the major chapters of this document.

     13     These guidelines are pamphlets that distill the

     14     crucial information and concepts from the full

     15     document into an easy-to-use format.  Copies of

     16     these, in fact, are on the table outside this room

     17     for anybody that has not received a copy, but they

     18     are sent to our mailing list of over 6,000 state and

     19     local election officials throughout the United

     20     States.

     21          In addition, the guidelines themselves will be

     22     discussed in great detail over the next several days

     23     at The Election Center meeting to be held right here

     24     in Kansas City at this hotel.  In fact, just today,

     25     I received copies of the Election Management
                                                                    61


      1     Guidelines document from our printer.  It is ready

      2     to go.  Here it is.  We will also be mailing this

      3     out to our list of 6,000 election officials

      4     throughout the country.  Obviously, anybody else who

      5     wants it, we will put it on our website as well as

      6     all of our other material that EAC produces.

      7          Let me finish by saying over the last 18 months

      8     or so, the EAC has had the privilege of working with

      9     our project co-leaders, Connie Schmidt and Brit

     10     Williams, to make this document a reality.  In

     11     addition, we would not have gotten where we are now

     12     without the excellent day-to-day assistance of Laiza

     13     Otero on our staff here.

     14          The real authors of this document, however, are

     15     the election officials who have educated and

     16     assisted us by providing information about

     17     innovative and successful election management

     18     practices.  This group includes at least eleven

     19     state-level election officials, over thirty-five

     20     local election officials from nineteen different

     21     states, representatives from NASS, NASED, IACREOT,

     22     The Election Center, and the EAC Standards Board and

     23     Board of Advisors.  Without the contributions of

     24     these individuals, the management guidelines could

     25     not have been produced.
                                                                    62


      1          Madam Chair?

      2          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Next, who would like to go,

      3     Connie or Brit?

      4          CONNIE SCHMIDT:  Brit.

      5          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  To be honest with you, it

      6     was organized that way.

      7          Dr. Williams?

      8          BRIT WILLIAMS:  Thank you.

      9          Thank you for the opportunity to participate in

     10     this Election Management Guidelines project.  As

     11     Madam Chairman has said, I've been involved with

     12     elections since 1986.  During that time, we

     13     participated in the development of every single copy

     14     of the Voting System Standards that has been

     15     produced, but this Election Management Guidelines

     16     project is by far the most exciting and far-reaching

     17     project that I've been involved with.

     18          For the first time, we're developing a

     19     comprehensive assistance tool for grassroots

     20     election officials, and to date we've developed

     21     three chapters of those guidelines, and I'm going to

     22     be talking about Chapter 2, which is titled "Systems

     23     Security."  Overall security of a computer-based

     24     voting system is achieved by the combination of four

     25     factors that have to work in concert with each
                                                                    63


      1     other.

      2          The first is the software itself.  The software

      3     has got to be adequate to do the job at hand, and

      4     that is to be able to define an election, to format

      5     ballots, to gather votes and tally votes and to

      6     maintain audit trails.

      7          The second is the use of well-defined and

      8     strictly enforced policies and procedures to control

      9     access to the voting systems to circumstances under

     10     which users can access the systems and the functions

     11     that they are permitted to perform.

     12          The third is the use of physical security and

     13     access laws, and that's primarily the subject of

     14     Chapter 3 that Connie will be talking about.

     15          The fourth is the using of what we call

     16     "two-person accountability and control," and that

     17     simply means that you try to avoid any situation

     18     where one person is in the room alone doing

     19     something by themselves just for reasons of

     20     accountability and audit.

     21          For these four factors, there's no one size

     22     fits all.  What might be appropriate for a large

     23     elections office with a large staff might be

     24     entirely inappropriate for a small office with two

     25     or three staff, so one of the challenges we face is
                                                                    64


      1     to try to develop these guidelines in such a way

      2     that you can cut and fit and make them appropriate,

      3     just extract material that is appropriate to your

      4     specific operation.

      5          Chapter 2 on system security contains

      6     recommendations for software security policies and

      7     procedures and password maintenance.  The first step

      8     in voting system security is to ensure that you've

      9     installed the correct version of software.  That is

     10     that what you've installed is, in fact, a system

     11     that was certified by the EAC, and then, thereafter,

     12     you have to have a mechanism that allows you to

     13     constantly monitor the software for evidence of

     14     accidental or fraudulent modification.

     15          In the software security section, there's

     16     guidelines for installing a voting system in a

     17     manner that will ensure that the system installed is

     18     identical to the EAC certified system, and there's

     19     also a method for using the NIST, the National

     20     Secure Reference Library, to periodically and

     21     randomly verify the system has not been altered.

     22     This system provides guidelines for the transmission

     23     of unofficial results over telephone circuits in the

     24     use of voting systems audits.

     25          I might say about the requirement to constantly
                                                                    65


      1     monitor your system, that there's a lot of publicity

      2     and media attention to election fraud, but the truth

      3     of the matter is that election fraud is usually not

      4     what modifies the voting system.  It's usually an

      5     act of nature or an accident, but still, you need to

      6     constantly check.  If lightning strikes a tree

      7     outside and your system goes down and you bring it

      8     back up, is it okay?  You need a quick, easy method

      9     of confirming that your system hadn't been altered.

     10          Over time, especially during the preparation

     11     and execution of an election, there are many people

     12     who have access to a voting system.  These include

     13     your office staff, vendor personnel, voters.  The

     14     policy and procedures section stresses the

     15     importance of having well-defined and strictly

     16     enforced policies and procedures for every person

     17     that has access to the voting system.  It also gives

     18     some cautions about who should never have access to

     19     the voting system.

     20          Effective use of passwords is essential to the

     21     overall security of the voting system.  Passwords

     22     are the primary tool that you can use to restrict a

     23     person's access to the voting system to only those

     24     portions that they are required to have access to in

     25     order for them to meet their job responsibilities.
                                                                    66


      1          Passwords are also used to restrict

      2     unauthorized access to a voting system.  The

      3     password maintenance section recommends that either

      4     the chief election officer or a senior member of the

      5     staff be designated as the password administrator,

      6     and the duties and responsibilities for the password

      7     administrators are defined.  Guidelines are

      8     presented for issuing passwords, maintaining a

      9     master list of passwords, re-issuing passwords on a

     10     continuing basis and monitoring password usage.

     11          Madam Chairman, in closing I would like to go

     12     back to your welcoming remarks when you complimented

     13     your staff on their dedication and hard work.  I'd

     14     like to add my amen to that.  Over the course of

     15     this project, we have worked with Tom Wilkey, Brian

     16     Hancock and Laiza Otero, and these individuals are

     17     truly outstanding.  Thank you.

     18          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you very much.

     19          Ms. Schmidt?

     20          CONNIE SCHMIDT:  Thank you very much for the

     21     opportunity to be here today and sharing what I

     22     think -- the official unveiling of this marvelous

     23     document, the beginning of the nation's first

     24     Election Management Guidelines.  Again, it's a

     25     project very near and dear to my heart as an
                                                                    67


      1     election administrator who began work without a tool

      2     such as this, so it's very needed.  It's been my

      3     privilege to have the opportunity to work as a

      4     member of this dynamic team of people charged with

      5     creating these guidelines, and that, of course,

      6     includes Brit Williams, Brian Hancock, and Laiza

      7     Otero and Dr. Williams.

      8          It's also been so exciting to work with this

      9     team of people, election administrators, from all

     10     across the country at the local and the state level

     11     to join together to build something that works for

     12     all of us, which is a first for all of them as well,

     13     and I think it's a project that's going to be shared

     14     by one and all of those individuals, and it's been

     15     developed with their input and their feedback, and

     16     it ranges from the smallest jurisdictions to the

     17     largest jurisdictions, which is also a key element

     18     to how we went about developing the guidelines.

     19          The overall content is written in a generic

     20     fashion because we truly realized over and over and

     21     over again when we work side by side with other

     22     election officials from different states, one size

     23     does not fit all, and it just -- it keeps coming

     24     back to us constantly.  The intent is to provide

     25     recommendations to them as they evaluate their
                                                                    68


      1     existing procedures and maybe again to develop brand

      2     new procedures at the state and at the local level.

      3          Chapter 3 is the one I'm going to talk about,

      4     and it addresses the topic called "physical

      5     security," and that includes a lot of things.  It's

      6     procedures, policies, everything relating to

      7     equipment and all of the peripheral pieces and parts

      8     that can prevent tampering, vandalism and theft.  It

      9     covers steps to follow when beginning -- how do you

     10     do an overall security review of your operations?

     11     We tried to provide some guidelines there, including

     12     reviewing how the equipment is stored and how you're

     13     doing inventory control and how you manage the

     14     people that are accessing all of these pieces and

     15     parts of equipment.  We provided some

     16     recommendations on how to handle the human access to

     17     the voting system, including separation of duties;

     18     two-person integrity, as Dr. Williams noted,

     19     background checks, all those kinds of things that

     20     can help assure us of security of our systems.  It

     21     covers protection and security of paper ballots, all

     22     the voting equipment, and again, all of those

     23     peripheral devices that go with managing the voting

     24     system.

     25          The topics are covered from the very beginning,
                                                                    69


      1     from the point the equipment is first delivered at

      2     an election office to managing the storage of it

      3     through transporting and delivering it out to

      4     polling places and early voting facilities, to

      5     managing security within each of the polling places

      6     on election day, and it also includes some things to

      7     remember when we're training poll workers on how to

      8     manage security, to closing up the polls and

      9     actually tabulating and transmitting the votes and

     10     then getting everything back into the storage

     11     warehouses and securing it during the post-election

     12     lockdown phase.

     13          Each section within that Chapter 3 -- the part

     14     I tend to like the best is we have a set of review

     15     questions that election officials can kind of start

     16     asking themselves regarding their own security

     17     procedures, so it's kind of like, do you have a

     18     procedure to do this?  These questions are posed

     19     again in an effort to get people thinking, to

     20     trigger a thought process so they can start thinking

     21     about how they are doing it individually within

     22     their own jurisdiction or within their state.

     23          Again, throughout the chapter, we urged the

     24     reader to think about their own procedures and

     25     policies, to begin to analyze them, to think about
                                                                    70


      1     adding to them, to think about updating them, and we

      2     hope that the readers are encouraged to use that

      3     chapter as a guidebook to go to, kind of a reference

      4     tool that they know is there to help them.

      5          In closing on my remarks, I think the release

      6     of these chapters truly is a first step of something

      7     that's going to evolve into a dynamic reference tool

      8     to be used by election officials across the country.

      9     We hope voters can begin to understand the election

     10     process better.  Candidates, the media can

     11     understand our business of elections better by

     12     having access to a reference guidebook about

     13     elections written by election administrators, and we

     14     know it will be a continuing, evolving book, so it

     15     will always be there, and something that we will

     16     always be actively, I hope, seeking input from

     17     election administrators across the country to

     18     continue to improve the process.

     19          Thank you.

     20          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you very much.

     21          Ms. Otero, we've heard about chapters being

     22     done right now.  I think your presentation is to

     23     tell us the future.

     24          LAIZA OTERO:  Yes.

     25          Madam Chair and commissioners, thank you again
                                                                    71


      1     for allowing me to present today, especially with

      2     this project.  It's truly an enjoyment and in

      3     particular working with these three amazing

      4     individuals to my left, who I consider just

      5     invaluable election resources, living, breathing

      6     resources.  Each one of them has truly -- brings so

      7     much to the table, especially seeing them in the

      8     focus groups and how they bring out the best in

      9     election officials with the lessons learned and best

     10     practices.  I'm truly privileged to work with each

     11     one of them.

     12          In 2007, the Election Management Guidelines

     13     staff will be working on developing the next

     14     chapters of the EMG, and there will be seven, and

     15     also the next five Quick Start Management Guides.

     16     Topics for this year's chapters include

     17     military/overseas voting, vote by mail/absentee

     18     voting as part of one chapter, contingency/disaster

     19     planning, ballot designs, developing an audit trail

     20     and acceptance, pre-election and parallel testing,

     21     and lastly polling place/vote center management.

     22     The next series of Quick Starts will cover

     23     certification, developing an audit trail, public

     24     relations, contingency/disaster planning and change

     25     of management.
                                                                    72


      1          The EMG staff expects Quick Starts to have been

      2     developed and distributed by September 1st, 2007.

      3     The EMG chapters will have been drafted by early

      4     December, and the EAC staff will work hard to

      5     distribute those chapters to election officials in

      6     time for the 2008 election.  That is our goal.

      7          In addition to these topics, EAC staff will

      8     work with the EAC's language accessibility program,

      9     as I mentioned in the previous presentation, to

     10     develop a chapter and a Quick Start on language

     11     accessibility, including a section to nonwritten

     12     languages.  This chapter and Quick Start are in

     13     queue for early next year.

     14          EMG staff will work with state and local

     15     election officials in small, informal working groups

     16     to develop this year's chapters in Quick Starts.

     17     This format has greatly facilitated the development

     18     of EMG materials by allowing the exchange of

     19     election practices across jurisdictions to

     20     incorporate the best practices and lessons learned

     21     into the final EMG products.

     22          We have already conducted meetings on polling

     23     place/vote center management, vote by mail/absentee

     24     voting and contingency/disaster planning.  The next

     25     round of meetings will be conducted in July, and in
                                                                    73


      1     addition to state and local election officials, the

      2     program staff will closely work with the EAC

      3     research department to incorporate information

      4     gathered through its current collections of

      5     information regarding uniformed and overseas voters,

      6     absentee/vote by mail practices, alternative voting

      7     methods and the ballot design.  This collaboration

      8     will supplement and enhance the information gathered

      9     directly from election officials through the focus

     10     groups and provide a method for highlighting

     11     research information in an easy to use format.

     12          During the next few days, as was mentioned

     13     before, the EMG staff will be presenting here at The

     14     Election Center.  They will be providing a more

     15     in-depth look into the early chapters of the

     16     management guidelines that Mr. Hancock has

     17     illustrated, and we will be presenting on ballot

     18     design testing and pre-election testing, developing

     19     an audit trail and the certification chapters,

     20     systems security and physical security.  We're

     21     particularly excited about this meeting as it marks

     22     the initial phase of distribution of the EMG binder

     23     to election officials.  We can't wait for everybody

     24     to have a copy of this as it continues to grow and

     25     expand throughout the years.
                                                                    74


      1          In the next couple of weeks, copies of this

      2     binder will be mailed to all state and local

      3     election officials, and we'll make this available

      4     upon request by calling our office or also by

      5     submitting information through our website, and the

      6     electronic version of the document will be posted,

      7     again, just to make sure, the website is at

      8     www.eac.gov.

      9          So thank you once again, and we'll gladly

     10     answer any questions that you have about this

     11     project.

     12          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Mr. Hancock?

     13          BRIAN HANCOCK:  Madam Chair, before we take

     14     questions, I wanted to add a little bit more

     15     information on the material especially for the

     16     public here.

     17          As far as the background of the commission's

     18     review of this, I think that's very important

     19     given -- in light of some of the things that have

     20     happened recently.  This full document the

     21     commission did approve by tally vote at the very end

     22     of last year.  We just had the resources to print it

     23     this year.  That's why it's coming out at this

     24     point.  At the beginning of every year, the staff

     25     does brief the commissioners and ask for their input
                                                                    75


      1     on the course of this project, the suggested

      2     chapters that we will be working on during the

      3     course of that year and ask commissioners for

      4     approval or other suggestions.  Also this document,

      5     the full document, is reviewed by the EAC's

      6     standards board and board of advisors before it goes

      7     to the commission for approval so just by way of

      8     background, Madam Chair.

      9          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Thank you.

     10          To clarify, the reason why it was done in

     11     December and not being printed until now, we were

     12     under a continuing resolution underneath our agency

     13     and the whole budget through Congress; so,

     14     obviously, once we get money, then we're able to

     15     move, but you never know what it's going to be until

     16     it's actually done and run through the whole process

     17     and signed.

     18          So I do want to thank each and every one of you

     19     for your presentation, and I do want to thank you

     20     for being willing to be here tomorrow to do

     21     presentations; and at The Election Center, I think

     22     people will find it very beneficial as we move

     23     forward in taking the best of what is being done in

     24     my view throughout the country and sharing it with

     25     everybody.  That, I think, is one of the purposes in
                                                                    76


      1     how we feel that -- we want to work together in

      2     trying to bring our election community together.

      3          Obviously, we all understand that one size

      4     doesn't fit all, and we need the input of our

      5     election officials, and I do want to thank those

      6     that have been a part of that process in the past,

      7     and that will be part of the process in the future.

      8          So now I'd like to open it up to questions.

      9     And since I started out on this side, we'll start

     10     with this side this time.

     11          Commissioner Hunter?

     12          CAROLINE HUNTER:  A question about physical

     13     security.  Do you anticipate in most jurisdictions

     14     that regular existing poll workers will be able to

     15     do a lot of the things that you talked about,

     16     Ms. Schmidt, or do you think jurisdictions will have

     17     to hire additional staff to help with the physical

     18     security of moving machines from one place to

     19     another and securing them at the end of election

     20     day?

     21          CONNIE SCHMIDT:  Again, the chapter does not

     22     give specific procedures on how each jurisdiction

     23     should manage that.  We speak in generic terms in

     24     which the equipment needs to be sealed during

     25     transport, and there needs to be procedures in place
                                                                    77


      1     to assure that the seals are intact and poll

      2     workers -- the existing poll workers are quite

      3     capable of doing that through proper training and

      4     proper tools and checklists available to them.

      5          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Thank you.

      6          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Any other questions?

      7          Commissioner Rodriguez?

      8          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you, Madam Chair.

      9     Just a reflection, if I may.

     10          The election community, in one of the most

     11     wonderful things about it, has always learned

     12     from -- we always had to learn from each other.  In

     13     1997, Commissioner Davidson, as head chairman,

     14     loaned the City of Denver machinery because we were

     15     thinking about buying it.

     16          In '98, we bought it, and I sent the staff of

     17     the election commission to Johnson County, Kansas,

     18     to see you run through an election and learn how to

     19     operate the equipment from an operational

     20     perspective, so this is a formal continuation of

     21     that kind of learning, and to me it's very exciting

     22     because the real experts in the world are the people

     23     you're working with, are the election officials, and

     24     to the extent we can share from their -- benefit

     25     from their experiences is going to be very
                                                                    78


      1     important.  Thank you.

      2          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  And now I turn it to our

      3     executive director, Mr. Wilkey.

      4          THOMAS WILKEY:  Thank you, Madam Chair.

      5          First of all, Dr. Williams, I wouldn't worry

      6     about any reference to the time that you started

      7     working in this business because as you know, I'm

      8     often asked whether I certified F.D.R.'s election as

      9     the governor of New York, so we've all been around a

     10     long time.

     11          BRIT WILLIAMS:  I was happy to hear that you're

     12     going to include the age in there.

     13          THOMAS WILKEY:  Absolutely.

     14          You know, first a fast comment.  We have a

     15     number of contractors that work with us.  You know,

     16     it's been the subject of some of our discussion

     17     today.  We will continue to have more in the future,

     18     but it is rare when you have individuals who go

     19     above and beyond what you have contractually asked

     20     them to do, and I need to tell you that these two

     21     individuals are a prime example of that.  They have

     22     gone above and beyond what we've asked them to do.

     23          The development of those Quick Start Guides,

     24     which have been so well received in the election

     25     community, are really a labor of love on behalf of
                                                                    79


      1     these people.  They were not asked to do it.  It was

      2     not part of their contract.  But yet, they took the

      3     time to spend and help us develop those, and we're

      4     very grateful for that.  We can't have a finer team

      5     working on that in terms of background and

      6     experience in this area.

      7          I do, however, want to pick your brain just a

      8     bit.  If you could -- what I worry most, and as the

      9     chair indicated -- you know, I started screaming

     10     about this in 1990.  17 years is, you know, a long

     11     time to wait for something like this, so this is

     12     very special to me, so I want it to be utilized, and

     13     I want it to be accepted out there.

     14          One of the things I worry most is that while we

     15     will have a lot of people that will take it and

     16     absorb it, whatever we put out the door, we will

     17     have a certain segment who will kind of look at it

     18     and say, Well, this is the federal government.  Do

     19     we really care what the federal government is doing?

     20     And maybe, you know, for somebody who's been around

     21     so long, it is hurtful because after every election,

     22     we see all these problems that happen.  And when you

     23     scratch the surface of all the headlines, they are

     24     things that are going to be addressed in this very

     25     document.
                                                                    80


      1          How do we sell this?  How do we get this

      2     message out there?  How do we make them understand

      3     that just a quick look and -- how up-to-date this

      4     stuff is going to be so it's helpful in the work

      5     that they are doing?

      6          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Mr. Hancock?

      7          BRIAN HANCOCK:  I'll start.

      8          I'm sure the rest of the panelists can chime

      9     in, but I agree with you, and certainly that was a

     10     concern of all of us when we started this project,

     11     and I must admit probably during the first maybe six

     12     or eight months that we were working on this

     13     project, we were concerned because we did have, you

     14     know -- there was a lot of silence out there about

     15     the project, but I think over the past six months,

     16     we've been heartened considerably by the acceptance

     17     of the Quick Start Guides.

     18          Every election official that I've talked to has

     19     appreciated those products and many have actually

     20     used those products, so I think we are now starting

     21     to have a lot of local and state election officials

     22     see that this is, in fact -- even though we are the

     23     federal government, it is a useful product, and, in

     24     fact, the product comes from them essentially.  It

     25     is essentially, although we use this term loosely, a
                                                                    81


      1     "best practices compilation," looking at what their

      2     own fellow election officials have done, so I think

      3     that goes a long way to making this a useful and

      4     acceptable product for those folks.

      5          THOMAS WILKEY:  Thank you.

      6          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Anybody else who would like

      7     to add to that?

      8          Ms. Schmidt?

      9          CONNIE SCHMIDT:  I think a lot is gained by

     10     being able to be face-to-face and discuss it.  I'm

     11     excited about the sessions this week to be able to

     12     talk to people about the guidelines, to bring it

     13     down to their level, to encourage people to join

     14     with us as we continue to develop them.

     15          The focus group meetings that we've had, the

     16     elections people who have joined with us, as Laiza

     17     has said, the synergy that happens when we're all

     18     together talking about a mutual need or a mutual

     19     concern or a mutual issue is incredible, and I think

     20     those who have participated would agree with me that

     21     when they walked away, they went with a whole bunch

     22     of ideas that they took home to start implementing.

     23     So we need to find a way to connect, to get down

     24     there where people really understand the intent of

     25     that book and how they should be using it.
                                                                    82


      1          I'd also like to say that I hope election

      2     officials, when they get the book, that they begin

      3     immediately to go to the copy machine and make

      4     copies of it and put a set on each employee's desk

      5     because if we can empower the people that work for

      6     us to help us review procedures that they all do, we

      7     can begin from the bottom up to bring people

      8     together and to get everybody on the same page.  I

      9     feel very strongly about finding a way to make it a

     10     live document for everyone.

     11          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Dr. Williams?

     12          BRIT WILLIAMS:  A famous southern politician is

     13     quoted as saying that you have to get the milk down

     14     where the cats can get to it, and that's the biggest

     15     problem we face, and we talk about it constantly.

     16     How are we sure that we're getting this to the

     17     people that need it the most?  As Brian indicated,

     18     we're seeing some real positive signs.

     19          When we started out the first few focus groups,

     20     we kind of had a party and nobody came.  The last

     21     two or three, the participation has been

     22     outstanding, so I think the election officials now

     23     are beginning to realize that this is not an EAC

     24     show.  This is not a Brit and Connie show.  What

     25     we're doing is we're acting as a facilitator to put
                                                                    83


      1     together information about what they are doing, what

      2     their neighbors are doing, and what they can be

      3     doing, so we're real pleased with the progress we're

      4     beginning to see right now.  We just have to not

      5     relax.

      6          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  In my words, I would say,

      7     you know, the most power that we have is word of

      8     mouth and, obviously, having this meeting with The

      9     Election Center and the people that are attending

     10     it, they go home and communicate this information to

     11     the other election officials that cannot attend

     12     these meetings, obviously, because of either

     13     staffing problems or financial problems that are not

     14     able to attend.  I think the more we can get out and

     15     talk about the positiveness also in what you're

     16     doing tomorrow, I think, will go a long ways.

     17          Back to Mr. Wilkey.

     18          THOMAS WILKEY:  Just one further thing.  Again,

     19     I can't thank you enough.  This has been a dream of

     20     mine for so long that I can't tell you how much it

     21     means to me personally and professionally, and if

     22     it's one thing that I realize in being around this

     23     commission, I feel that it'll be well -- it'll be

     24     something I'm very, very proud of.

     25          Madam Chair, I know we don't usually introduce
                                                                    84


      1     people from the audience, but there is someone who

      2     has just joined us a little bit ago that I think

      3     it's most appropriate to introduce, one of the

      4     premier election administrators in this country who

      5     happens to be the election administrator here in

      6     Kansas City, our good friend Sharon Turner-Buie.

      7          Sharon, if you would just stand up, and I thank

      8     you for being here, and it's always good to be with

      9     you.  I wanted the commissioners to note that you

     10     were here.

     11          She's also a member of the Technical Guidelines

     12     Development Committee and does a great deal of work

     13     for us on that committee.

     14          Thank you, Madam Chair.

     15          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  In closing, I do appreciate

     16     your, you know, presentations.  Each and everybody

     17     that -- oh, I'm sorry.  Julie, I left you out.

     18          JULIE THOMPSON-HODGKINS:  That's all right.

     19          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Would you like to make any

     20     comments before I do my closing remarks?

     21          JULIE THOMPSON-HODGKINS:  Actually, Madam

     22     Chair, I usually don't ask that many questions, but

     23     I did have one.

     24          You know, just listening to your presentation,

     25     it seems like this is one of the areas in which many
                                                                    85


      1     of the pieces of work that EAC is doing is going to

      2     come together.

      3          Mr. Hancock, I was going to ask to you to

      4     comment on how some of this work will build upon the

      5     research projects that we have ongoing right now on

      6     ballot design and on military/overseas voting.

      7          BRIAN HANCOCK:  Yes, thank you.

      8          You are correct.  We do have a number of

      9     projects going on that do sort of mesh together with

     10     this very carefully, and we have -- and we are in

     11     constant contact with our director of research who

     12     manages those projects to make sure that we

     13     coordinate the efforts of both projects to make sure

     14     that we are, in fact, speaking with one voice and

     15     telling election officials across the country the

     16     same thing, so those projects will be meshed

     17     together certainly to the greatest degree possible.

     18          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  Okay.  Now I apologize.

     19          In closing, again, I want to thank you for your

     20     presentation.  I want to thank you for being here

     21     tomorrow and giving a light, you know, that I really

     22     think is shining very bright in what we're doing for

     23     the election community, and I also want to say

     24     congratulations to our new commissioners, that this

     25     is your first meeting, and definitely I've enjoyed
                                                                    86


      1     working with you in the last few weeks, and I look

      2     forward to the future in serving with you on this

      3     commission.

      4          The other thing is I'd like to say

      5     congratulations to Commissioner Rodriguez as the

      6     vice chair, so we're moving forward at the EAC, and

      7     I appreciate everybody that has been here in our

      8     audience, and I would like to ask for a motion to

      9     adjourn.

     10          CAROLINE HUNTER:  So moved.

     11          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Second.

     12          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  All those in favor say

     13     "aye."

     14          ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ:  Aye.

     15          CAROLINE HUNTER:  Aye.

     16          DONETTA DAVIDSON:  So the will is done.  Thank

     17     you so much, everybody.

     18

     19

     20

     21

     22

     23

     24

     25
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      1                    REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

      2

      3          I, KRISTIN LISKA, CSR 1354, CCR NO. 1158, a

      4     Certified Shorthand Reporter/Certified Court

      5     Reporter, certify;

      6          That the foregoing proceedings were taken

      7     before me at the time and place therein set forth,

      8     at which time the witness was put under oath by me;

      9          That the testimony of the witness, the

     10     questions propounded, and all objections and

     11     statements made at the time of the examination were

     12     recorded stenographically by me and were thereafter

     13     transcribed;

     14          That the foregoing is a true and correct

     15     transcript of my shorthand notes so taken.

     16          I further certify that I am not a relative or

     17     employee of any attorney of the parties, nor

     18     financially interested in the action.

     19          I declare under penalty of perjury under the

     20     laws of Kansas and Missouri that the foregoing is

     21     true and correct.

     22          Dated this 3rd day of May, 2007.

     23

     24                  ______________________________
                         KRISTIN LISKA, CSR/CCR
     25
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