Standards Board Newsletter 

April 2016 

Volume 3, Issue 1 

Executive Board of the Standards Board 

Brad King, IN State, Chair 

Vacancy, Vice-Chair 

Edgardo Cortes, VA State, Secretary 

Mark Goins, TN State 

Paul Lux, FL Local 

Gary Poser, MN State 

Jerry Schwarting, SD Local 

Rey Valenzuela, AZ Local 

Vacancy, State Representative 

U.S. Election Assistance Commission 

1335 E West Highway • Suite 4300 • Silver Spring, MD 20910

www.eac.gov
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Letter from the Chair 

Welcome to the 2016 Standards Board Meeting! 

Preparations are well underway to welcome you to Carlsbad, California for the April 14-15, 2016 Standards Board meeting. As of 

this date, 87 members (or their representatives) have confirmed their plans to attend, and so we expect to have not only a 

quorum, but close to a full house. Some 19 members will be unable to attend. All of us on the Executive Board understand and 

regret that the demands we share in a presidential election year make any meeting date or location impractical for at least some 

members. 

Our meeting should be an interesting and productive one. Members will have opportunities the day before the meeting begins to 

visit both nearby Camp Pendleton for an informative session concerning military and overseas voters and to visit the San Diego 

County election office to see how others perform the important tasks involved in administering an election. 

During the meeting, Bob Giles and Greg Riddlemoser, our representatives on the Technical Guidelines Development Committee 

(TGDC), will update us on the activities and recommendations from that body. Several EAC staff members will provide 

information regarding topics such as the roll-out of the new EAC website, and voting testing and certification. We will also hear 

from fellow local election administrators who have assumed new responsibilities: Brian Newby, Executive Director of the EAC, 

will provide an overview of EAC agency operations, while Cliff Tatum, General Counsel of the EAC, will offer an overview of the 

federal statute (FACA) which sets forth the basic requirements and framework for the Board’s activities. 

Members will also receive a briefing from the Honorable Tom Schedler, Secretary of State of Louisiana, and President of the 

National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS). FVAP’s Director, Matt Boehmer, will provide information regarding that 

office’s work on behalf of military and overseas voters, while Merle King of the Center for Election Systems at Kennesaw State 

University will update us on the status of the State Testing and Certification Consortium. 

Our meeting will also include an “open mic” opportunity for members to raise questions and discuss issues with all three 

Commissioners of the EAC. 

During our time together, we will also attend to housekeeping matters, such as conducting an election to fill Executive Board 

vacancies, and voting on proposed Bylaws amendments, However, the most important housekeeping task may be the 

reorganization of our committees to give members the opportunity to serve on the bodies which do important work in the times 

between our meetings of the full membership. Our agenda has an hour set aside on the final day for the EAC Clearinghouse, 

EAVS (survey), USPS (Postal Service), and VVSG committees to meet to plan their activities, which will continue after we leave 

Carlsbad. Please carefully consider which committees you may be interested in participating in. The Executive Board will use the 

information you provide when it designates committee members for the year ahead. 

I wish to take a moment to apologize for the recent delays in publishing this Newsletter. To use the Southern California dialect, 

the Newsletter has been “on hiatus” for some time due to unexpected delays in finalizing our conference meeting location, and 

due to personal health issues. I hope that this issue marks the return of more regularly scheduled publication of the Newsletter, 

whose purpose is to keep you informed about Standards Board activities so that we are never totally off of your radar screen. 

Finally, the Executive Board wishes to extend our thanks and best wishes to our former Vice-Chair, Sandi Wesolowski, who 

vacated her position as a local representative earlier this year. Sandi was a dedicated, hardworking member, and a joy to work 

with on the Executive Board. She will be missed. 

See you in Carlsbad! 

Brad King, Chair 

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Standards Board Executive Board Meets March 17 

Discusses Shared Committees with Board of Advisors; EAVS Survey 

The Executive Board welcomed several guests who participated in the March conference call: Cliff Tatum, General Counsel of 

the EAC; Linda Lamone, Chair of the Board of Advisors; Lynn Bailey, Standards Board member and member of the EAVS 

committee; and DeAnna Smith of EAC staff. 

Linda Lamone asked the Standards Board to consider having joint committees with representatives from both the Standards 

Board and the Board of Advisors to address certain issues, such as the EAVS survey, the EAC Clearinghouse, and USPS 

concerns. She noted that the two Boards have common purposes, and so having duplicate ad hoc committees on these topics 

could result in unnecessary delays in their work. The Board discussed this idea, and noted that the Standards Board committees 

whose work did not overlap with the work of the Board of Advisors (such as the Nominating Committee, and Bylaws committee) 

would not be designated as joint committees. The Executive Board plans to consider the designation of members to joint 

committees further when all committees are reorganized at the Carlsbad meeting. 

Lynn Bailey discussed the work of the Council of State Governments (CSG) regarding section B of EAVS and the consolidation 

of duplicate survey questions derived from previous FVAP and EAC surveys. The Executive Board requested that EAC staff 

schedule a meeting including EAC representatives, Linda, Lynn, and the Chair, to identify priorities regarding the consolidation 

of survey questions, including not making changes to the survey near a major election, and data format issues. 

The Executive Board also discussed the possibility of working with other groups and individuals who have already done some 

research regarding U.S. Postal Service issues, such as the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

In other matters, the Executive Board approved the Nominating Committee’s report, which submitted the names of three 

Standards Board members as candidates to fill the two current vacancies on the Executive Board. EAC staff indicated that 

candidate information will be distributed to the full membership shortly and that planning is underway for the mechanics of 

conducting this election within the Carlsbad hotel. The Board noted that one vacancy to be filled is for the remainder of a six year 

term (the seat formerly held by Peggy Nighswonger) and one vacancy is to be filled for the remainder of a two year term (the 

seat formerly held by Sandi Wesolowski). In the same manner that the members of the Board were assigned their initial terms at 

the Williamsburg meeting, the two winning candidates at Carlsbad will draw colored marbles to determine which of the two terms 

each candidate will serve. 

Cliff Tatum reported that as General Counsel, he had completed his required review of three proposed Bylaws amendments to 

Article I (Standards Board Authority), Article V (Executive Board Vacancies) & Article VI (Executive Board Duties) and 

determined that the proposed amendments would comply with federal law and regulations if adopted. 

Announcements 

Standards Board Meeting 

• Thursday, April 14 and Friday, April 15, 2016, Carlsbad, CA. Please see following agenda. 

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Agenda [subject to change and approval]
 

U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
 

STANDARDS BOARD MEETING
 

Sheraton Carlsbad
 

Carlsbad, California
 

April 13-15, 2016
 

Wednesday, April 13, 2016 

Military Voters Pre-Meeting Event Camp Pendleton 

Tour of County Election Office San Diego 

Thursday, April 14, 2016 

7:30-8:30 a.m. Registration Foyer of Sunset Ballroom 

Breakfast Foyer of Sunset Ballroom 

8:30-9:00 a.m. Welcome Sunset Ballroom 

9:00-9:30 a.m.	 Call to Order Sunset Ballroom 

Pledge of Allegiance 

Roll Call; Determination of Quorum 

Welcoming Remarks from the Commissioners 

Thomas Hicks, Chair, EAC 

Christy McCormick, Designated Federal Officer, EAC 

Matthew Masterson, EAC 

9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.	 Introductory Business Sunset Ballroom 

Approval of Minutes of April 28-29, 2015 Meeting 

Presentation of Certificates to New Members 

Packet Material Review: Indicating interest in committee 

service 

Overview of VVSG, Bylaws, EAVS, EAC Clearinghouse, 

and USPS committees 

9:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	 Procedures to Fill Executive Board 

Vacancies 

Sunset Ballroom 

Proxy Voting Rules Review 

Proxy Committee Report 

Report of Nominating Committee 

Sample Ballots Distributed 

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Thursday, April 14, 2016 

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. FACA Responsibilities and role of 

Board under HAVA 

Cliff Tatum, General Counsel, EAC 

Sunset Ballroom 

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Overview of EAC Agency Operations 

Brian Newby, Executive Director 

Sunset Ballroom 

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Grants and Audits 

Monica Evans, Grants Director, EAC 

Sunset Ballroom 

11:30 a.m. – 12:00 Noon TGDC Update/Recommendations Sunset Ballroom 

Bob Giles, TGDC Representative 

Greg Riddlemoser, TGDC Representative 

12 Noon – 1:30 p.m. Lunch Grand Ballroom 

Ron Stroman, Deputy Postmaster General, USPS, invited 

1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Testing and Certification Sunset Ballroom 

Brian Hancock, Testing & Certification Director, EAC 

Mary Brady, NIST 

2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. New Website Rollout Sunset Ballroom 

Mark Abbott, EAC 

Bryan Whitener, Communications Director, EAC 

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. National Association of Secretaries 

of State Briefing 

Sunset Ballroom 

The Honorable Tom Schedler, 

Secretary of State of Louisiana, President, NASS 

Leslie Reynolds, Executive Director, NASS 

3:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Break/Refreshments Foyer of Sunset Ballroom 

Voting ENDS at 4:00 p.m. 

3:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Status of State Testing 

and Certification Consortium 

Sunset Ballroom 

Merle King, Kennesaw State University, Center for 

Election Systems 

Brian Hancock, Testing & Certification Director, EAC 

Breakout Nomination Committee 

to certify results 

Encinitas Room 

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Thursday, April 14, 2016 

4:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Voting Results Announcement Sunset Ballroom 

4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Miscellaneous Announcements 

and Business 

Sunset Ballroom 

Recess until Friday, April 15, 2016 

Dinner on your own 

7:30 p.m. Executive Board meeting Leucadia Room 

Administration of oath to new members 

Approval of past minutes 

Election of officers for term beginning April 29, 2016 

Review of member interest surveys 

Appointments of committee members and chairs 

Friday, April 15, 2016 

7:30-8:15 a.m. Breakfast Foyer of Sunset Ballroom 

8:15-8:30 a.m. Welcome new Executive Board 

members; Introduction of officers for next year 

Sunset Ballroom 

8:30-9:00 a.m. Federal Voting Assistance Program 

Briefing 

Matt Boehmer, Director, FVAP 

Sunset Ballroom 

9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Committee Meeting Breakouts 

VVSG 

EAC Clearinghouse 

EAVS 

USPS 

Bylaws 

Sunset Ballroom 

Leucadia Room 

Encinitas Room 

Solana Room 

Carlsbad B Room 

Open mic with EAC Commissioners 

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Committee Reports Sunset Ballroom 

10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Break and Refreshments Foyer of Sunset Ballroom 

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Friday, April 15, 2016 

10:45 a.m. -11:15 a.m. Discussion and Vote on 

Proposed Bylaws Amendments 

Sunset Ballroom 

11:15 a.m. – 12 Noon Discussion and Vote on 

TGDC Recommendations 

Sunset Ballroom 

12 Noon Any remaining announcements 

or business Motion to Adjourn 

Sunset Ballroom 

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