A Guide to the 

Election 

Administration and 

Voting Survey 

 

 U.S. Election Assistance Commission 

 1201 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300 

 Washington, DC 20005 

 www.eac.gov 

 
 

Table of Contents 

Introduction..........................................................................................1 

This section provides information about the Election Administration and Voting 

Survey. 

Release of the Survey..............................................................................2 

This section discusses the process EAC follows in issuing of the Survey. 

Technical Assistance...............................................................................2 

This section discusses the technical assistance available to election officials, the 

process for requesting assistance, and the form and format for such assistance. 

Submission of the Survey Data..................................................................2 

This section discusses the processes and deadlines for submitting data responsive to 

the Survey. 

State Verification of the Survey Data..........................................................3 

This section discusses the opportunity, process, and deadlines for state review and 

verification of the Survey data. 

Issuance of Survey Reports.......................................................................4 

This section discusses the reports EAC issues using the Survey data. 

Post-Reporting Matters...........................................................................5 

This section discusses post reporting matters, including the identification of post 

reporting errors and the submission of additional data. 

Effective Date........................................................................................8 
Introduction 

Purpose 

The purpose of this document is to provide information to election officials responsible 

for completing EAC’s Election Administration and Voting Survey (Survey). This 

document provides information concerning the processes and procedures associated with 

a State’s submission, review, and correction of the Survey data. 

 

About the Election Administration and Voting Survey 

Since 2004, the EAC has administered this biennial Survey to the 50 States, the District 

of Columbia, and the territories of America Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin 

Islands. The Survey asks election officials questions concerning voting and election 

administration. These questions request information at the State and county levels (or 

county equivalent) on ballots cast; voter registration; overseas and military voting; 

Election Day activities; voting technology; and other important issues. The EAC issues 

the survey to meet its obligations under the Help America Vote Act to serve as national 

clearinghouse and resource for the compilation of information with respect to the 

administration of Federal elections. The Survey data is also used to satisfy statutory 

requirements and results in three reports: the Impact of the National Voter Registration 

Act of 1993; the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act; and, the 

Election Administration and Voting Survey. The aforementioned reports are sent to 

Congress and posted on the EAC website. 

Background and Authority 

The EAC issues the Survey to meet its obligations under the Help America Vote Act 

2002 (HAVA) to serve as national clearinghouse and resource for the compilation of 

information with respect to the administration of Federal elections; to fulfill its data 

collection requirements under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

(UOCAVA); and meet its National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) mandate to collect 

information from states concerning the impact of that statute on the administration of 

Federal elections. 

HAVA. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. §15322) requires the EAC 

to serve as a national clearinghouse and resource for the compilation of information 

and review of procedures with respect to the administration of Federal elections. 

This includes conducting studies to promote the effective administration of Federal 

elections under topical areas such as methods of voter registration, methods of 

conducting provisional voting, poll worker recruitment and training, and such other 

matters as the Commission determines are appropriate. 

NVRA. Under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the EAC is responsible 

for collecting information and reporting, biennially, to the United States Congress 

on the impact of that statute. The information the States are required to submit to 

the EAC for purposes of the NVRA report are found under Title 11 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations. States that respond to questions in this survey concerning 

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voter registration related matters will meet their NVRA reporting requirements 

under 42 U.S.C. §1973gg-7 and EAC regulations. 

UOCAVA. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voters Act (UOCAVA) 

mandates that EAC create a standardized format for state reporting of UOCAVA 

voting information (42 U.S.C. §1973ff-1). UOCAVA requires that “not later than 

90 days after the date of each regularly scheduled general election for Federal 

office, each State and unit of local government which administered the election 

shall (through the State, in the case of a unit of local government) submit a report to 

the Election Assistance Commission (established under the Help America Vote Act 

of 2002) on the combined number of absentee ballots transmitted to absent 

uniformed services voters and overseas voters for the election and the combined 

number of such ballots which were returned by such voters and cast in the election, 

and shall make such a report available to the general public.” States that complete 

and timely submit the UOCAVA section of the survey to the EAC will fulfill their 

UOCAVA reporting requirement under 42 U.S.C. §1973ff-1(c). 

Release of the Survey

The EAC intends to release a draft of the Survey, if possible, one year before the election 

for which the data are being sought. The draft survey will appear on the EAC website 

(www.eac.gov). In addition, the EAC is statutorily required to submit its survey to the 

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review – a process that can take up to 120 

days. During the review process, the EAC will publish the estimated paperwork burden 

for the proposed information collection in the Federal Register. The public is encouraged 

to comment on the paperwork burden of the proposed Survey. Once EAC has acquired 

approval for the data collection through OMB, it will release the final version of the 

survey. The final survey package will include the instrument, an instruction manual, and 

templates to be used by the States for submitting their data. 

Technical Assistance 

Once the data collection phase begins, States will have the benefit of technical assistance 

offered by the EAC. The technical assistance includes, but is not limited to, guidance and 

support related to understanding the questionnaire, definitions and instructions, entering 

States’ data into the template, uploading States’ data to the project website, and anything 

else that involves a State attempting to collect and submit its data. 

States (or individuals charged with providing information for the Survey) may request 

technical assistance by contacting that State’s EAC designated technical assistance 

specialist. Specifics related to the contact information for the technical assistance 

specialist will be provided to the State-level contact person upon release of the Survey 

materials. 

Submission of the Survey Data 

EAC will provide States with easily-accessible templates to use for the submission of 

Survey their data. EAC will also accept alternative formats if a State indicates that it 

would be easiest for the transfer of the requested information. The alternative format for 

data submission must be consistent with the data elements indicated in the Survey (each 

individual State will work through the alternative format submission process with the 

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EAC during the technical assistance period). Formatting their database systems to collect 

the data elements noted in the Survey will assist States to query and submit the data by 

the submission deadline (see below). 

Submission Deadline

The due date for the survey data is the first business day in February following the 

Federal election.1 If a State’s data submission is not received by the first business day in 

February following the Federal election, it will be considered late and will be flagged as 

such in EAC’s system. States that turn their data in after the deadline will not be able to 

review their submissions (see below). 

State Verification of the Survey Data 

Once States have submitted their data on the first business day in February following the 

Federal election, the EAC will begin compiling and formatting the data so that the data 

can be sent back to the States for review and verification. States will have 10 business 

days to review and resubmit their data to the EAC. If the State misses the deadline of the 

first business day in February, that State will not have an opportunity to review and 

resubmit its data. 

Upon reviewing and verifying the State’s data, the individual at the State level 

responsible for submitting the data to EAC, usually the Chief Election Official, must 

certify in writing that the information being presented to the EAC is true and accurate to 

the best of his/her knowledge. An EAC certification letter will be sent to the Chief 

Election Official requesting a written State response. If the data are correct, the State 

must certify its data and indicate that the submission process is complete. If the data are 

not correct, the State must specify that corrections are needed and work with the EAC to 

ensure corrections are made. After the corrections are made, the State must certify its data 

and indicate that the submission is complete. 

Steps: 

1. States submit the Survey data by the first business day in February following the 

Federal election. 

2. EAC formats States’ data in the Survey database and sends data back to the States 

for review. 

3. States review and verify their data over a 10 business day period. 

4. States certify their final data submissions. 

On the first business day in March, EAC will “lock” the Survey database and begin data 

reconciliation for the purpose of beginning the report writing process. At this point, no 

additional data will be accepted from the States for inclusion into the database or the final 

 

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 For example, data for the 2010 EDS (based on the November 2010 election) will be due to EAC in 

February of 2011. This deadline is necessary, in part, due to the EAC’s requirement under section 702 of 

HAVA that States submit their UOCAVA numbers to EAC within 90 days of the election (42 U.S.C. 

§1973ff-1(c)). Since the EAC collects the NVRA, UOCAVA, and other election-related data 

simultaneously using the same instrument, all data are due at the same time to eliminate confusion and 

duplicative efforts by State and local officials and EAC. 

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. If a State fails to submit its data to the EAC before the first business day in 

March, the State’s data will not be included in the database used to write the EAC 

reports. The EAC must have adequate time to assess the data so that it can begin its 

analysis with a complete dataset. A State that misses the submission deadline may request 

in writing that a link to its data be placed on the EAC website (see the section on post 

reporting matters). 

EAC Issuance of Survey Reports 

The Survey data is used to create three reports: the Impact of the National Voter 

Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA); the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 

Voting Act (UOCAVA); and, the Election Administration and Voting Survey. 

The NVRA report includes data related to voter registration in the States’ over a two-year 

election cycle. The report is based on the Survey results from the 55 States and territories. 

Included in the report are data on: 

 the total number of registered voters; number of active and inactive registered 

voters; 

 number of persons who registered to vote on Election Day; 

 number of voters who registered using online registration; 

 number of voter registration applications received from all sources; 

 number of voter registration applications that were duplicates, invalid or rejected, 

new, changes of name, address, party, and not categorized; 

 number of duplicate registration applications received from all sources; 

 number of removal/confirmation notices mailed to voters and the reason for 

removal; 

 total number of voters removed from the registration list or moved to the inactive 

registration list. 

The UOCAVA report includes data related to voting by uniformed and overseas voters 

over a two-year election cycle. The report is based on the Survey results from the 55 

States and territories. Included in the report are data on: 

 the total number of UOCAVA absentee ballots transmitted, returned, cast, and 

counted; 

 number of UOCAVA absentee ballots not counted and the reason for rejection; 

 number of Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots returned and cast by UOCAVA 

voters; 

 number of UOCAVA ballots transmitted as part of the two-election cycle of 

automatic requests; 

 number of UOCAVA ballots transmitted as part of the two-election cycle of 

automatic requests that were returned undeliverable and submitted for counting. 

The Election Administration and Voting Survey report includes data related to Election 

Day activities, turnout, and other important and timely election administration topics. 

The report is based on the Survey results from the 55 States and territories. Included in 

the report are data on topics such as: 

 total number of precincts in the state/jurisdiction; 

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 number of polling places available for voting in the Federal general election; 

 number of poll workers used for Election Day; number of persons who voted in 

the Federal general election; 

 total number of first-time voters who registered by mail and were required to 

provide identification in order to vote; 

 number of absentee ballots requested, received, counted, and not counted; 

 reasons for absentee ballot rejection; number of provisional ballots cast, counted, 

and rejected; 

 reasons for provisional ballot rejection; 

 use of electronic and printed poll books during the Federal general election; 

 type and number of voting equipment used for the Federal general election; 

 type of process in which voting equipment was used – precinct, absentee, early 

vote site, accessible to disabled voters, provisional voting; location in which votes 

were tallied – central location, precinct/polling place, or early vote site; 

 total number of votes cast – at polling places, via absentee ballot, at early vote 

centers, via provisional ballots. 

Post Reporting Matters 

Corrections to the data

The EAC will provide ongoing technical assistance to States starting when the EAC 

releases the survey and continuing until the data submission deadline. The EAC 

encourages States to utilize the resources provided by the EAC to assist in submitting 

timely and accurate information. 

The EAC will accept survey data until the first business day in February following a 

Federal election. As an example, the due date for acceptance of the 2010 survey will be 

February 1, 2011. The EAC will clearly note the due date when releasing the survey and 

will provide reminders throughout the reporting period. 

Additionally, as noted above, the EAC will provide States with a 10 business day window 

in which States can review data and submit corrections. After the 10 business day 

window, the database will be “locked” and EAC will not be able to augment or amend 

any data in the database after that point. As with the survey due date, the “lock” date will 

vary depending on the year. As an example, the “lock” date for the 2010 survey will be 

March 1, 2011. The EAC will provide reminders of the “lock” date during this 10 

business day period. 

Reporting Errors or Omissions in Survey Data Following the “Lock” Date

If a State notices an error or omission in the EAC’s data after the “lock” date, which is by 

example March 1, 2011 for the 2010 survey, the Chief Election Official for that State (or 

individual who certified the final submission, if not the Chief State Election Official) 

must send written notification to the EAC’s Executive Director and Director of Research, 

Policy and Programs in a timely fashion. Written notification will be deemed timely if 

submitted to the EAC no later than 30 calendar days following the EAC’s adoption of the 

report in question. A requester’s notification of a possible error or omission in survey 

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data will in no way affect or otherwise alter EAC’s timelines for printing and publishing 

its reports. See “A Note on EAC Final Reports,” below. 

Written notification must include the following information to be considered: 

 Name and contact information of the individual providing the written notification; 

 An explanation of the error or omission, including, if applicable, the specific data 

points that are incorrect or incomplete; and 

 A statement explaining the error or omission, including whether the State 

reasonably believes that the error or omission is a direct result of an EAC action 

or failure to act. 

All requests shall be sent to the Executive Director, U.S. Election Assistance 

Commission, 1201 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, ATTN: 

Election Administration and Voting Survey Correction. The request can also be sent 

electronically to HAVAinfo@eac.gov with the subject line “Election Administration and 

Voting Survey Correction.” 

Consideration of Timely Reported Errors or Omissions in Survey Data

The EAC Executive Director and Director of Research, Policy and Programs will 

consider all information provided by States to determine, within their discretion, the 

disposition of the reported error or omission. In other words, they will determine, within 

their discretion, whether a report of an error or omission sufficiently justifies an 

amendment to the Survey Data Report. The Executive Director will notify States in 

writing of his or her decision within 10 business days of receipt of a timely submitted 

written notification. Written notification will be deemed timely if submitted to the EAC 

no later than 30 calendar days following the EAC’s adoption of the report in question. 

The Executive Director’s determination may be appealed pursuant to the appeals process 

described below. 

If the Executive Director determines that a reported error or omission is the direct result 

of an EAC action or failure to act, the EAC will: 

 Provide written notification to the State’s Congressional delegation of the 

corrected or additional data; 

 Include in the EAC’s weekly email to stakeholders a statement indicating that 

corrected or additional data are available; and 

 Place a notation along with corrected or additional data on the EAC’s website 

page containing the survey data. 

If the Executive Director determines that a reported error or omission is not a direct result 

of an EAC action or failure to act, the EAC will: 

 Provide the State with the opportunity to post on the EAC’s website a link to the 

additional data, which must reside on the State’s own website. 

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Appeal of Executive Director’s Determination Concerning Errors or Omissions

If a State disagrees with the Executive Director’s determination that a reported error or 

omission is not a direct result of an EAC action or failure to act, the Chief State Election 

Official (or individual who certified the final survey submission, if not the Chief State 

Election Official) may send a request for reconsideration to the EAC’s Commissioners. A 

State wishing to appeal the Executive Director’s determination must submit a written 

request for reconsideration within 14 calendar days of the date on the letter notifying the 

State of the Executive Director’s decision. The Commissioners’ review will be limited to 

the contents of the State’s survey file and associated documentation; and may not include 

arguments or facts that could have been made available to the Executive Director during 

his or her review. The Commissioners’ decision on appeal will be limited to a review of 

whether the Executive Director’s determination was clearly erroneous or not supported 

by the contents of the State’s survey file and associated documentation. 

Written requests for reconsideration must include the following information to be 

considered: 

 Name and contact information of the individual requesting the appeal; 

 A statement indicating the elements of the Executive Director’s determination 

that are clearly erroneous or not supported by the facts or circumstances; and 

 As appropriate, documents or correspondence that support the State’s assertion of 

an erroneous or unsupported decision. 

All requests shall be sent to the Chair, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1201 New 

York Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, ATTN: Election Administration 

and Voting Survey Correction Appeal. The request can also be sent electronically to 

HAVAinfo@eac.gov with the subject line “Election Administration and Voting Survey 

Correction.” 

Supplementation of Survey Data Pursuant to Enforcement Action

Occasionally, State Attorneys General or the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) may 

initiate enforcement actions concerning the data the EAC collects in its survey. Often, 

these actions are intended to ensure compliance with States’ reporting obligations under 

the NVRA or UOCAVA. 

Upon notification by the Chief State election official (or his or her designee); or the 

proper law enforcement official; of a final action in a State or Federal court of competent 

jurisdiction that results in additional NVRA or UOCAVA data, the EAC will append its 

survey data to include data recovered or reported as a result of such an enforcement 

action. For purposes of this provision, an official of a law enforcement agency will be 

considered the proper requester if he or she is a State Attorney General (or his or her 

designee) or the Chief of the Voting Rights Section of DOJ (or his or her designee). 

EAC will consider requests from other law enforcement agencies to append the survey 

data on a case by case basis. Determinations concerning enforcement actions that are 

decided on a case by case basis will initially be made by the Executive Director and may 

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be appealed by using the same process outlined in the “Appeal of Executive Director’s 

Determination Concerning Errors or Omissions” section above. 

Written notification must include the following information: 

 Name and contact information of the individual providing the written notification; 

 The year for which additional or corrected data has been collected (i.e. 2006, 

2008, 2010); 

 A citation to the enforcement action that resulted in additional survey data; and 

 A database containing the additional survey data that the requestor wants the EAC 

to include in the survey. In the alternative, the requester may provide a link to 

court documents or similar official findings that contain this information. 

All requests shall be sent to the Executive Director, U.S. Election Assistance 

Commission, 1201 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, ATTN: 

Election Administration and Voting Survey Correction. The request can also be sent 

electronically to HAVAinfo@eac.gov with the subject line “Election Administration and 

Voting Survey Correction.” 

Upon receipt of written notification that an enforcement action has resulted in additional 

or corrected data, the EAC will: 

 Include in the EAC’s weekly email to stakeholders a statement indicating that 

corrected or additional data are available; and 

 Place a notation along with corrected or additional data on the EAC’s website 

page containing the survey data. 

A Note on EAC Final Reports 

After a report has been written and adopted by the EAC, no changes to that report may be 

made. That is, no new report will be designed, printed, and issued (electronic or 

hardcopy). However, if the Executive Director determines that an error or omission was 

directly attributable to an EAC action or lack of action, the EAC will include an errata 

sheet with corrections for any hard copy reports it has available. The errata sheet for 

electronic versions of the report will be placed on the EAC website. Similarly, upon 

receipt of written notification that an enforcement action has resulted in additional or 

corrected data, the EAC will include an addendum for any hard copy reports it has 

available. The addendum for electronic versions of the report will be placed on the EAC 

website. 

Effective Date 

This policy becomes effective on May 11, 2010 and supersedes all previous versions.