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2017 Chief FOIA Officer Report (Small-Volume Agency)

Chief FOIA Officer: Bryan Whitener

Director, National Clearinghouse on Elections

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is committed to making the 

fullest possible disclosure of records to the public, consistent with the rights of 

individuals to privacy, the rights of individuals and other entities with respect to 

trade secrets and commercial or financial information entitled to privileged and 

confidential treatment, and the need for the Commission to promote free internal 

policy deliberations and to pursue its official activities without undue disruption. In 

the interest of efficiency and economy, the Commission’s preference is to furnish 

records to requesters in electronic format, when possible.

Training

In fiscal year 2016, staff participated in the following training to promote EAC 

compliance with FOIA:

• DOJ FOIA training for attorneys and access professionals.

• DOJ Office of Information Policy (OIP) meetings of Chief FOIA Officers 

Council and FOIA Counsels to understand new reporting and compliance 

requirements.

• Records Management in Government Training – Focusing on email as a 

record and complying with the provisions of OMB M-12-18. Specifically, 

managing email records of current and former employees in a manner that 

supports searching in response to information requests, including FOIA.

• Email communications training for all staff to be aware of the impact of 

FOIA requirements.

• Privacy Act Training for all staff. Topics covered included Privacy Laws, 

Recognizing Privacy Act Records, Handling Privacy Act Information, 

Understanding Rights of Access, Foiling Information Thieves and 

Protecting Privacy Information. The training program provides employees 

and contractors with information about the laws that regulate all Privacy 

Programs and EAC’s policies on how privacy protected information should 

be identified and handled. 

U.S. Election Assistance Commission

1335 East West Highway, Suite 4300

Silver Spring, MD 20910

www.eac.gov
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Informing the Public

The EAC continuously engages and seeks to inform election officials, voters, 

lawmakers, and other stakeholders. Through media outreach, the EAC.gov 

website, social media, videos, reports and Sunshine Act Notices, the EAC 

provides relevant and timely information about the administration of elections. 

This includes:

Media Outreach – The EAC actively engages media through press releases, 

fact sheets, event advisories, and expert interviews. This outreach encompasses 

direct outreach to national, state and local press. 

EAC.gov – The commission is poised to launch a new website in spring 2017. 

This new site places the vast resources available on the EAC.gov website into a 

more cutting-edge, user-friendly design. The EAC website receives more than a 

million visitors a year, including voters and election officials accessing the 

commission’s unparalleled clearinghouse of election and voting system

information. The site also houses the EAC’s blog, serves as the hub for its media 

relations efforts and serves as the portal for FOIA and other requests. The

website features a user-driven notification system that allows visitors to 

customize how they receive information from the EAC.

Social Media – The EAC uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to share 

information and interact with stakeholders. It also uses these platforms to amplify 

resources featured on its website and to share timely content such as 

livestreaming events and meetings. The commission also uses social media to 

highlight information shared by state and local election officials, as well as to 

engage these officials in real time.

Videos – The EAC produces a variety of different video products to serve 

election officials, voters and other stakeholders. From streaming, capturing and 

posting public meetings and other important election-related gatherings to 

producing short webinars about timely topics and election best practices, the 

EAC’s produces video content that complements its vast online resources and 

provides increased public transparency.

Sunshine Act Notices – In compliance with federal law, the EAC ensures that 

every portion of every public meeting, except as otherwise provided in § 9407.5, 

is open to public observation and that the public is given advance notice ahead of 

these gatherings. 

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