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EAC QUARTERLY

NEWSLETTER

The EAC recently published Best Practices:

Chain of Custody to provide state and local

election officials with up-to-date best

practices, checklists, and sample forms for

implementing and maintaining chain of

custody procedures. This report outlines

items election officials should consider when

developing or revising their chain of custody

procedures for physical election materials,

voting systems, and the use of third-party

auditors for conducting audits and

electronic discovery.

The EAC also updated the Glossary of

Election Terminology with nearly 1,300

terms and phrases used in the

administration of elections in the U.S. The

purpose of the glossary is to provide election

officials with a comprehensive resource of

common words and phrases used in the

administration of elections. If you have

recommendations for terms to add or terms

that are used differently in your state or

jurisdiction, please let us know by emailing

clearinghouse@eac.gov with the subject line

“Glossary Recommendation.”

New EAC Blog: What is hash validation and

why should election officials care?

NEW EAC RESOURCES

CONTENTS

THE CENTER FOR TECH AND

CIVIC LIFE SUMMER SCHOOL

The EAC would like to thank the states and territories for their diligence during the 2020 EAVS data

collection period. The 2020 EAVS comprehensive report and datasets will be available in August.

After the final report is released, preparations for 2022 EAVS will begin and include an after-action

review of 2020 survey administration, a working group focused on enhancing Section A, and the

public comment period for the 2022 questionnaire. The EAC will be hosting a virtual roundtable on

the 2020 EAVS report and a new report on lessons learned from the 2020 elections on August 17

from 1-3 p.m. ET. More information will be available on the EAC’s event page.

2020 EAVS UPDATE

The deadline to complete the no-cost election

specific cybersecurity training from the Center

for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) has been

extended through Summer 2021. Please visit

the CTCL website to access the free training.

You may be able to earn continuing education

credits for this training. For questions on

earning credit, please contact your state or

local election office. To date there have been

over 1,000 total participants from 46 states,

Washington D.C., and three territories who

have completed the training.
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The 2020 Annual Grants

Expenditure Report is now

available on our website.

Approved annual reports

for CARES and Election

Security grants have been

posted to our website.

Mid-year reports were due

on April 30, 2021 and are

currently under review.

Final CARES reports for the

mid-year reporting cycle

were due no later than

June 29, 2021.

For states and territories

preparing to close out their

CARES grants, closeout

instructions and the EAC

Closeout Webinar can be

found on our website.

The EAC Office of the

Inspector General recently

released the FY 2021 Audit

Work Plan which includes

audits of the following

states’ HAVA grant funds:

Arizona, California,

Delaware, Indiana, Georgia,

Ohio, Pennsylvania,

Washington

GRANTS UPDATE

CARES ACT GRANTS

UPDATE

TESTING AND CERTIFICATION

The EAC welcomes Testing and

Certification Director Jonathon Panek. He

attended the State University of New York

at Buffalo and received a Bachelor of

Science in electrical engineering with a

minor in computer science engineering.

Testing and Certification met with voting system

manufacturers and Voting System Test Labs (VSTLs) to present

the VVSG 2.0 implementation and next steps. Additionally, the

Testing and Certification department continues to work on

the VVSG Lifecycle Policy. The goals of the draft policy are to:

establish an update cadence for VVSG, allow for periodic

updates to address necessary minor changes, create a clear

deprecation schedule for older standards and allow future

versions to maintain backward compatibility. The lifecycle

draft was recently circulated to the EAC Boards for feedback.

Once the EAC has further refined the draft, the EAC will

request feedback from the public.

Lastly, the EAC is working with NIST on an end-to-end

protocol evaluation program and to discuss updates to the

NVLAP Handbook 150-22 for voting system testing criteria.

He is a career-long tester with 15 years of experience in the

gaming industry working on compliance testing of slot

machine hardware, software, accounting systems, and online

gaming platforms for domestic and international markets.

Prior to joining the EAC, he was a test manager at SLI

Compliance where he oversaw EAC test campaigns, hardware

testing, and assisted with state voting systems and e-poll book

projects.
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This year the EAC established a new Clearinghouse department consisting of five Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The new SMEs

include local election officials from across the country, and a SME solely focused on accessibility. The team of SMEs have over 50

years of combined experience, among these professionals are graduate degrees, certifications, and awards for innovation. Prior to

joining the EAC, they have pioneered election audits, used creative ways to educate voters, and have garnered the respect nationally

of fellow election administrators with their achievements. Meet some of the EAC team members.

Are you interested in joining the EAC? Learn more about current EAC job postings.

Tina Barton -- Senior Program Advisor to the Executive Director

Tina previously served as the Rochester Hills City Clerk and has been an election administrator for 16 years. She holds a

master’s degree in management and leadership and a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Tina is a certified

Master Municipal Clerk. In 2019, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson appointed her to the Michigan Election Security

Commission. Tina’s office received a 2018 Clearie Award for Election Innovation. She was the first Clerk in Michigan to

conduct a Risk Limiting Audit pilot. She is the Past President of the Oakland County Clerks Association and the past

Director of Education for the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks. She has been married to her husband Mark for

over 30 years; they have two married adult children. Tina spends her free time with her family, her dogs, and mentoring

at-risk youth.

Ben Jackson – Senior Election Subject Matter Expert, Accessibility

Ben first got involved with elections in 2010 as an intern for the Electoral Reform Society during their Vote For a Change

campaign. The purpose of the campaign was to pass a (UK) constitutional amendment for more proportional

representation. Since 2010, he has worked for a political mail firm and conducted election monitoring for two

presidential and three midterm elections. He was a federal disability policy fellow for the Association of University

Centers on Disability for two years. Immediately prior to joining the EAC, he was a staff attorney at Disability Rights

Maryland and was the primary attorney on the Help America Vote Act grant work. He was tasked with ensuring electoral

accessibility from voter registration through ballot casting.

Kammi Foote – Senior Election Subject Matter Expert

Over the past 14 years, Kammi administered over 20 elections in Inyo County, California, serving the past decade as the

elected County Clerk-Recorder & Registrar of Voters. She was appointed to leadership positions in the California Recorder

(CRAC) and Elections Officials (CACEO) statewide professional associations, including as Legislative Co-Chair and on the

Board of Directors for both originations. She was a regular speaker about election integrity nationally and testified in the

California legislature to inform public policy decisions. She lives with her husband and two adult children in the foothills

of the Sierra Nevada, where she enjoys hiking, photography and giving back to her community through various altruist

nonprofit organizations.

Steven Daitch – Senior Subject Matter Expert

Steve served as the Elections Coordinator for Ottawa County, Michigan for seven years. In this role, Steve was

responsible for serving 23 local city and township clerks, including providing ballots, programming election equipment,

and training election workers. Customer-focused communications were also an important part of this role, and Steve

was responsible for providing information to voters about voter registration, absentee voting, election security, postelection audits, and results certification. Steve recently graduated with a Master of Public Administration degree in

election administration from Auburn University.

Kimberly Smith -- Senior Election Subject Matter Expert

Prior to joining the EAC, Kimberly was the Deputy Director of the Defiance County, Ohio Board of Elections. While at the

Board of Elections, Kim managed all aspects of local, state, and federal election administration including overseeing the

voter registration process; conducting poll worker training; and programming, testing, and auditing voting equipment.

Additionally, she led an effort to conduct one of Ohio’s first risk-limiting audit pilots. Kim received an A.A.S. in

architectural engineering technology from Owens Community College, a B.A. in political science from Bowling Green

State University, and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School.

THE EAC WELCOMES NEW SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT TEAM

MEET THE TEAM

Courtney Mills – Senior Advisor to the Executive Director

Courtney Mills serves as a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the EAC. Courtney brings over a decade of

experience working in elections and program management to the EAC. She has previously worked in private

consulting, developing policy portfolios focused on election law and democracy reform, training attorneys on election

law, and providing program design and management for nonprofit organizations and legislators. She has worked

closely with election officials and the nonprofit community in the development and implementation of election laws

and has an extensive background drafting bills and amendments to improve election administration across the

country. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and a J.D. from William & Mary Law School, where

she studied in the school's Election Law Program. She is licensed to practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Tegan Landry -- Senior Content Editor and Graphic Designer

Tegan lives near Denver, Colorado. She has a bachelor’s degree in media communication and graphic design, a

master’s degree in arts leadership and cultural management, and is now working on her second master’s in business

intelligence. Writing is her biggest passion, with four published novels and another in the works. In this role, she will

blend her years of education and experience in communication, writing, and design to help the EAC effectively get

information to the people who need it.
On March 7, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order

14019: Promoting Access to Voting. The EAC is working closely

with the General Services Administration (GSA) and the

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

providing technical support on Sections 5 and 7 of the order,

respectively. Expanding upon the existing relationship between

the agencies, the EAC is providing support to GSA. GSA staff are

developing a plan to modernize and improve the user

experience of vote.gov to serve as a trusted source of

information on critical election information. Examples of topics

they are working on include registration and voting information

in numerous languages. The EAC is also supporting NIST’s

efforts to analyze barriers to private and independent voting for

people with disabilities. These efforts include meetings and

discussions with the EAC’s Subject Matter Expert on

Accessibility, and other EAC staff.

EAC STANDARDS BOARD AND BOARD

OF ADVISORS ANNUAL MEETINGS

On June 17, 2021 and June 23, 2021, the EAC Standards Board

and Board of Advisors convened for their annual meetings

respectively. EAC leadership provided both boards with a

general update and discussed a variety of topics including:

VVSG 2.0, Grants, EAVS, National Poll Worker Recruitment Day,

and heard considerations for a potential e-poll book

certification program. Recordings of the Standards Board and

Board of Advisors meetings are available on the EAC’s YouTube

channel.

EAC INTERVIEW SERIES

26th Amendment Conversation

AAPI Heritage Month

Military Appreciation Month

Serving Voters with Disabilities series

Clearie Award Best Practices - Also, the blog Celebrating

Election Officials’ 2020 Efforts Through the EAC’s

Clearinghouse Awards is available on the EAC’s website.

The EAC launched the 2020 Elections Lessons Learned video

series to highlight best practices and lessons learned in election

administration from the 2020 elections. The series is available

now on the EAC YouTube channel, and more videos with state

and local election officials will be added. Subscribe to the EAC’s

YouTube channel to stay updated on series like this one and

other series including:

LOCAL LEADERSHIP

COUNCIL ESTABLISHED

On June 8, 2021, the EAC

established a new Federal

Advisory Committee, Local

Leadership Council. This board

will advise the EAC on how best

to fulfill the EAC's statutory

duties and be an additional

source of expert analysis and

recommendations on local

election administration topics.

The EAC will appoint 100

members with leadership

experience (two from each

state), after soliciting

nominations from each state's

election official professional

association.

The EAC is planning on

contacting the various state

professional associations for

these nominations in the

coming weeks. Additional

information will be available on

eac.gov.

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EXECUTIVE ORDER INFORMATION