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CHARTER OF THE

U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION 

STANDARDS BOARD

1. Official Designation. The Election Assistance Commission Standards Board.

2. Authority. In accordance with the requirements of 52 U.S.C. § 20941, Title II, Subtitle 

A, Part 2, Section 211 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (“HAVA” or the “Act”) 

[Public Law 107-252], the Election Assistance Commission (“EAC” or the 

“Commission”) hereby charters the Election Assistance Commission Standards Board 

(the “Board”), and establishes the Board in accordance with the provisions of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act (“FACA”), as amended, 5 U.S.C. App. 2.

3. Objectives and Scope of Duties. The objective of the Standards Board is to advise the 

EAC through review of the voluntary voting systems guidelines (“VVSG”), as 

described under Title II Part 3 of HAVA, including updates to the VVSG; through 

review of the voluntary guidance described under Title I, Subtitle B of HAVA; and 

through the review of the best practices recommendations contained in the report 

submitted under Title II, Part 3, Subtitle C, Section 242(b) of HAVA.

4. Description of Duties. The Board will function solely as an advisory body and will 

comply fully with the provisions of FACA, its regulations, and other relevant legal 

authorities such as Presidential Memoranda and Office of Management and Budget 

guidance. The Board may, by simple majority vote, adopt resolutions and make 

recommendations. Such resolutions and recommendations, however, will be advisory 

only to the EAC and will be restricted to the EACs activities described in Title II, 

Subtitle A, Part I, Section 204 and Part 2, Section 212 of HAVA.

5. Agency or Official to Whom the Committee Reports. The Board will report to the 

EAC through the Designated Federal Officer (“DFO”).

6. Support. The EAC shall be responsible for providing financial and administrative 

support to the Board. The EAC will provide liaison services between the Board and the 

Advisory Panel Secretariat.

7. Estimated Annual Operating Costs and Staff Years. The annual cost for operating 

the Board is estimated at $287,580.37 including 0.7 staff years. Annual operating 

costs include meeting expenses, travel, staff salary and benefits, and other expenses. 

Committee members shall not be paid for their time or service. As for persons 

intermittently in the government service, members shall be reimbursed for their 

travel-related expenses to attend meetings in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 5703.

8. Designated Federal Officer. Pursuant to FACA, the DFO (and alternate DFO) shall 

be a full-time or permanent part-time federal employee, appointed in accordance with 

EAC procedures. The DFO must approve or call all Board meetings, approve the 

agenda for all meetings and subcommittee meetings, attend all Board meetings, 

adjourn any meetings when the DFO determines adjournment to be in the public 

interest, and chair Board meetings in the absence of the designated Chair when 

directed to do so by the official to whom the Board reports.
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9. Estimated Number and Frequency of Meetings. Pursuant to Title II, Subtitle A, Part 

2, Section 215(a) of HAVA, the Standards Board shall meet (1) not lessfrequently

than once every year for purposes of voting on the VVSG referred to the Board; (2) not 

less frequently than once every 2 years for purposes of selecting the Executive Board; 

and (3) at such other times as the Board in consultation with the DFO, or the DFO 

considers appropriate to address the Board’s responsibilities under Title II of HAVA 

and attend to other issues presented by EAC.

10. Duration. The duration of the Board is continuing.

11. Termination. The Board is subject to a biennial review and will become inactive two 

years from the filing date of the charter, unless, prior to that date, it is renewed in 

accordance with Section 14 of FACA. The Commission's Organizational Management 

Policy Statement ensures that the charter may be renewed every two years according to 

the procedures in section IV, which provide for ongoing operation of the Commission's 

Boards and Technical Committee (adopted 2-24-15). The Board will not meet or take 

any action without a valid current charter.

12. Membership and Designation. Designations of Board members shall be in 

accordance with the Office of Government Ethics as Representatives, Regular 

Government Employees, or Special Government Employees and shall consist of 110 

members as follows:

Pursuant to Title II, Part 2, Subtitle A, Section 213 (a) of HAVA, Fifty-five (55) 

members shall be State election officials selected by the chief State election official of 

each State (including the territories of the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. 

Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam). Fifty-five (55) shall be local election 

officials selected under a process supervised by the chief election official of the State. 

The two (2) members of the Standards Board who represent the same State may not be 

members of the same political party. Vacancy appointments shall be made in the same 

manner as original appointments.

Pursuant to Title II, Part 2, Subtitle A, Section 213 (c) of HAVA, the Board shall select 

nine of its members as an Executive Board of whom, not more than five may be State 

election officials; not more than five may be local election officials; and not more than 

five may be members of the same political party. Members of the Executive Board 

shall serve two-year terms and may not serve more than three (3) consecutive terms.

Of an initial Executive Board, three (3) members shall serve for one (1) term; three (3) 

shall serve for two (2) consecutive terms; and three (3) shall serve for three (3) 

consecutive terms, as determined by lot at the time the members are first appointed.

Pursuant to Title II, Part 2, Subtitle A, Section 215 (e) of HAVA, members of the 

Board will not be compensated for their services but will, upon request, be reimbursed 

for or provided with travel and per diem expenses in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 5701 

et seq., while attending Board meetings or subcommittee meetings thereof, while away 

from their homes or regular places of business.

13. Subcommittees. The Commission, through the DFO Consultation with the Board, may 
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establish such subcommittees of the Board members as may be necessary.

14. Recordkeeping. The records of the Board, formally and informally established

subcommittees, or other subgroups of the Board, shall be handled in accordance with

General Records Schedule 6.2, Item 2 or the EAC records disposition schedule. These

records shall be available for public inspection and copying, subject to the Freedom of

Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552.

CHARTER FILING DATE:

This Charter was filed on the 13th day of April 2023. 

Signed: 

Christy McCormick 

Chair, Election Assistance Commission