U.S. Election Assistance Commission

Fiscal Year 2025 

Congressional Budget Justification
2 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Table of Contents

Mission and Vision 3

FY 2025 Priorities 4

Appropriations Language 5

Agency Background and Structure 6

Goals and Structure of Budget Justification 7

U.S. Election Assistance Commission Organization Chart 8

Fiscal Year 2023 Accomplishment Highlights 9

Operating Plan Summary 19

FY 2025 Budget Request Highlights 20

Budgetary Changes: FY 2024 Full-Year Estimate to FY 2025 Request 26

Budget Requests and Performance Measures by Strategic Goal 27

Attachment A: Office of Inspector General 38
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 3

Mission

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission helps election officials improve the administration of 

elections and helps Americans participate in the voting process.

Vision

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is a trusted, proactive, and responsive federal agency that 

helps election officials administer and voters participate in elections.

Salaries and Expenses

Election Security Grants (FY 2023-2024) / 

Election Innovation Grants (FY 2025)

Mission and Vision

FY 2023

Enacted

FY 2024

Estimate

FY 2024

President’s Budget

FY 2025

Request

FTE* Dollars FTE Dollars FTE Dollars FTE Dollars

66 $28,000,000 87 $28,000,000 87 $33,800,000 91 $38,000,000

 Note: FY 2024 Estimate levels reflect the annualized CR levels for 2024 

FY 2023

Enacted

FY 2024

Estimate

FY 2024

President’s Budget

FY 2025

Request

FTE* Dollars FTE Dollars FTE Dollars FTE Dollars

- $75,000,000 - $75,000,000 - $300,000,000 5 $96,000,000
4 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

FY 2025 Priorities

Improve the national security posture of elections with secure and accessible voting systems 

through the utilization of the newly implemented Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0 

(VVSG); expanding quality monitoring efforts for certified voting systems already in the field; 

expanding the testing, evaluation, and protection of election supporting technology, such as 

electronic poll books (EPB), ballot delivery systems, and election results reporting systems.

Develop a Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure (CVD) program, an independent security 

research program for election technology, and conduct testing campaigns of submitted VVSG 

2.0 voting systems to maintain the agency’s focus on national security implications as it relates to 

election administration. 

Continued development of voluntary penetration testing for election technologies, including 

voting systems, to ensure our nation’s critical elections infrastructure is secured against ongoing 

cybersecurity threats.

Expand the agency’s current Field Services Program (FSP) to assist state and local jurisdictions 

with quality monitoring of EAC certified systems.

Continue critical research by the Election Supporting Technology Evaluation Program (ESTEP) 

to successfully pilot future election technologies focused on security, accessibility, and usability, 

as well as seek the assistance of outside consultants for building requirements and developing 

best practices. 

Continue to serve as a clearinghouse of voting information by providing election officials and 

voters with necessary timely information and materials as they prepare to administer and 

participate in the 2024 presidential election, as well as future elections. This includes providing 

training and developing best practices to strengthen the integrity of elections, securing voting 

technology, and added guidance on preparing for Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled threats to 

election administration.

Collect and analyze the data from the 2024 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS), 

the agency’s instrument used to collect state-by-state data on the administration of federal 

elections. Release the 2024 EAVS report in June 2025.

Administer grant funding to help transition the states to VVSG 2.0. the newest standards in 

voting system technology and administer competitive Election Innovation Grant funding to states 

with qualified projects, ensuring funding is utilized efficiently and that states in need of such 

funding have an opportunity to request it.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 5

Appropriations Language

U.S. Election Assistance Commission

SALARIES AND EXPENSES

For necessary expenses to carry out the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-252), 

$38,000,000; of which $1,500,000 shall be made available to the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology for election reform activities authorized under the Help America Vote Act of 

2002; of which not less than $2,324,429 shall be for necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector 

General; and of which not to exceed $10,000 shall be for official reception and representation 

expenses: Provided, that of the amounts appropriated under this heading, up to $4,000,000 shall 

remain available until September 30, 2026.

ELECTION INNOVATION GRANTS

For the establishment of a competitive grant program to foster innovation, enhance processes 

and procedures, and improve the administration of Federal elections, $96,000,000, to remain 

available through September 30, 2026; of which not to exceed 2 percent shall remain available until 

September 30, 2028, for the administration and oversight of grants awarded under this heading: 

Provided, That the Election Assistance Commission shall, consistent with the purposes of the Help 

America Vote Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-252), award grants to states and eligible units of local 

government on a competitive basis for projects that will have significant national, regional, or local 

impact in the improvement of the administration of Federal elections through innovation, including, 

but not limited to, election administration; cybersecurity and audits; security of election officials and 

locations; accessibility for voters, including those with disabilities and other specific access needs, 

and including vote-by-mail, voter education, language proficiency, usability, and voter technology; 

or other programs to enhance or reliably secure processes and procedures in administering Federal 

elections without meaningfully impairing access: Provided further, That for purposes of this 

appropriation, the term “State” has the meaning given such term in section 901 of the Help America 

Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141): Provided further, That for purposes of this appropriation, the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall be deemed to be a State: Provided further, 

That for purposes of this appropriation, an eligible unit of local government is defined as a unit of 

local government with responsibility for the administration of Federal elections: Provided further, 

That a grant awarded under this heading shall be for an amount not greater than $10,000,000, and 

shall be available for obligation by the State or eligible unit of local government through September 

30, 2028: Provided further, That not more than ten percent of the total amount of funds made 

available under this heading may be awarded to projects in a single State. 
6 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Agency Background and Structure

Congress established the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to help election officials 

improve the administration of elections and help eligible Americans participate in the voting 

process. Congress charged the EAC with fulfilling its mission by managing federal standards for 

voting systems, testing and certifying voting systems to the voluntary national standard, distributing 

congressionally appropriated funds to states for the improvement of election administration, 

administering a national election administration clearinghouse that studies election administration 

practices, providing best practices to the nation, helping voters register to vote and participate in 

federal elections, and other purposes pursuant to HAVA.

The EAC consists of four presidentially appointed Commissioners, professional staff, and four 

Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committees. Congressional leaders of the majority and 

minority party each have the authority to recommend two of the four Commissioners who lead the 

agency, making the EAC a bipartisan commission by statutory mandate. 

The EAC’s three statutorily mandated FACA committees are the Standards Board, the Board of 

Advisors, and the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC). The three groups advise 

the agency and help develop the EAC’s national voting system testing and certification standard, the 

Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG). 

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) dictates the membership of the three committees. The 

Standards Board is a 110-member board consisting of 55 state election officials (the 50 states, the 

District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) selected by 

their respective chief state election official, and 55 local election officials selected through a process 

supervised by the chief state election officials. The Board of Advisors consists of groups representing 

governors; mayors; state legislatures; secretaries of state; state election directors; county recorders, 

election officials and clerks; voter advocacy groups; federal agencies; and professionals in the fields of 

science and technology. 

The TGDC helps the EAC develop its Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. It is composed of 14 

members appointed jointly by EAC and the Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s 

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), who is the chairperson of TGDC. 

In 2021, the EAC established a fourth FACA Committee, the Local Leadership Council (LLC), to 

provide recommendations and direct feedback to the EAC on a range of election administration 

topics. Membership in the LLC consists of 100 members with two members from each state who are 

currently serving or recently served as officers of each state’s local election official association. The 

first in-person meeting of the LLC took place on July 20-21, 2023. During this meeting, the LLC 

elected its first executive committee and is now a fully functioning FACA board.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 7

Goals and Structure 

of Budget Justification

As established and detailed in the EAC’s strategic plan, the EAC’s operations and offices are aligned 

to address the Commission’s congressional mandates to protect the nation’s voting systems; test 

and certify voting equipment; assist states with the administration of HAVA grant funds to improve 

federal elections; serve as a clearinghouse of information on voting; administer and maintain the 

National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) voter registration form; and report to Congress on NVRA 

and Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) voting activity. 

The EAC’s current strategic plan sets forth three strategic goals and ten strategic objectives. The 

three strategic goals are as follows:

1. Strengthen American elections through the development and implementation of responsive and 

dynamic voting system guidelines and cyber resources for election officials; 

2. Encourage improvements to election administration through the development and distribution 

of resources that assist election officials in modernizing American elections; and

3. Create operational excellence throughout agency management and programming.
8 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

U.S. Election Assistance Commission 

Organization Chart THE EAC’S ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

This organizational chart is currently operational but is pending a final vote by Commissioners.

Commissioners

Chief

Operating

Ocer

Inspector

General

Human Resources

& Administration

Research

OCIO

Field Services

Election Security 

Testing & 

Certification

Election Support

Technology 

Evaluation

Program

Finance Grants

Communications

Subject

Matter

Experts

Senior Counsels/

Confidential 

Assistants to 

Commissioners

Clearinghouse/ 

Senior Advisor to 

the Executive

Director

General Counsel

Legislative Aairs

Executive

Director

FEDERAL ADVISORY 

COMMITTEE ACT BOARDS

Standards Board

Local Leadership Council

Technical Guidelines 

Development Committee

Board of Advisor
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 9

Fiscal Year 2023 

Accomplishment Highlights

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is a trusted, proactive, and responsive bipartisan 

federal commission established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). The EAC provides 

funds to state election offices to improve and strengthen security around federal elections, develops 

the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG), accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting 

systems, serves as the nation’s clearinghouse for information on election administration, conducts 

the Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) and other studies, and administers the 

National Mail Voter Registration Form in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act of 

1993. Across the United States and its territories, the EAC is providing services for state and local 

election officials and the voters they serve. 

The EAC has also continued to maintain a focus on the national security implications of election 

administration through its programs and initiatives. These areas include Coordinated Vulnerability 

Disclosure (CVD) work, as well as the agency’s Field Services and Testing and Certification 

programs. Among the EAC’s other most notable accomplishments during Fiscal Year 2023 are 

the following:

Strengthening Election Security and Voter Confidence

The testing of the security and accuracy of voting machines is a national security imperative. The 

EAC understands that voter confidence can be enhanced when election officials and their federal 

partners adequately prepare for and respond to election security challenges. Some of the challenges 

include foreign malign influence and disinformation, malicious attempts to breach voter registration 

databases and other election systems, the use of ransomware, and other emerging and evolving 

threats to election infrastructure, periodic threats to election officials, and a large turnover of 

experienced election officials.

The Cyber Access and Security Program (CAS) is an integral part of the EAC’s mission. CAS 

maintains an Election Security Preparedness page on the EAC website with cybersecurity, risk 

management, training, best practices, and other resources to support this key mission. CAS 

coordinates closely with other agencies such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Federal Bureau 

of Investigation (FBI) to produce relevant and timely products that complement other agency 

offerings. Examples of this include the publishing of guidance on hash validation, contributions to the 

EAC’s chain of custody best practices guidance, and the continued hosting of CISA’s Election Risk 

Management online tool. The EAC’s CAS program will continue to seek new and innovative ways 

to deliver high-quality information and training to election officials. As the federal agency tasked 

with distributing election administration best practices, the EAC is well positioned to expand its 

leadership in this area in coordination with our partners and stakeholders. 
10 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

In 2023, the EAC was invited to participate in the Federal Senior Leadership Council’s Sector Risk 

Management Agency working group. This builds on well-established collaboration with other federal 

government entities that work on election security, including the development of the election 

security working group that eventually became the election infrastructure subsector’s Government 

Coordinating Council (GCC). Co-led by the EAC Chair on the GCC executive committee, GCC 

members include the EAC Chairperson and Vice Chair, as well as three state election officials 

and three local election officials drawn from the EAC’s federal advisory committees. In addition 

to the EAC’s work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish the GCC, the 

Commission supported establishing the Sector Coordinating Council (SCC) comprised of private 

election equipment manufacturers and vendors.

Threats to election workers remain a great concern to election officials and the EAC. In an effort 

to provide additional resources on this critical issue, the EAC launched a dedicated webpage for 

security-related concerns. The webpage serves as a reference for election workers who may be facing 

personal threats or harassment in the workplace, and includes resources to identify, mitigate and 

respond to threats and guidance for removing PII (Personally Identifiable Information) from internet 

searches. The EAC regularly updates this comprehensive resource to include information and best 

practices specific to the physical security of election and poll workers, information on submitting 

reports to law enforcement, helpful toolkits, and the most recent updates and resources from 

our federal partners Additionally, the EAC is providing a regular cyber threat intelligence report 

for distribution to state and local election officials. This reporting helps election officials maintain 

situational awareness of the cyber threat landscape and better prepare to defend their critical 

elections infrastructure.

The Commission continues to take a multifaceted approach to helping state and local election 

officials strengthen election security. This work includes testing and federally certifying voting 

systems, producing security-focused resources, and disseminating security best practice information 

and checklists to state and local election officials.

Meeting the Challenges of AI-Enabled Threats to 

Election Administration

The EAC provided state and local election officials with quality guidance and communications 

tools to curb the damaging effects of AI-generated materials during FY 2023. The ever-evolving 

election landscape continues to be the target of new threats. Social media evolved rapidly, with 

new platforms, new forms of disinformation, foreign influence, and AI-generative tools that may 

accelerate false information, making voter education and communication more challenging. To 

keep ahead of these challenges, the EAC developed and distributed a comprehensive AI toolkit to 

election officials to help combat this emerging threat. Additionally, the agency conducted research 

aimed at enhancing voter education initiatives and promoting best practices and has solicited 

input from election officials for information related to firsthand experiences with harmful AIgenerated disinformation.

Confidence in U.S. elections is strengthened when state and local officials can access the muchneeded programs and resources the EAC provides, whether these are modern standards for election 

technology, or sharing EAC guidance across jurisdictions related to AI-generated content. The EAC 

is committed to meeting the ever-growing needs of state and local election officials and meeting the 

challenges of AI-enabled threats head on.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 11

Advancing VVSG 2.0, Election Technology, Field Services

As states seek to invest in the purchase of new voting equipment, election leaders are continuing to 

turn to the EAC’s Testing and Certification Program as a key resource in ensuring the nation’s voting 

systems are tested to confirm the secure and accurate tabulation of ballots. This includes seeking 

information on the systems currently certified, Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) to certified 

system configurations, and implementation of the current iteration of the Voluntary Voting System 

Guidelines, which is known as VVSG 2.0.

In FY 2022, the EAC successfully operationalized VVSG 2.0. The first step was a unanimous vote 

of the Commissioners to adopt a VVSG Lifecycle Policy. This new policy facilitates migration to 

new standards by defining the types of VVSG version changes, both major and minor, providing 

guidance on Voting System Test Lab (VSTL) accreditation, migration to new standards, and defining 

limited maintenance modifications that may be made to systems certified to deprecated standards 

which allows jurisdictions to fully realize the expected lifespan of their voting systems. The policy also 

established an annual review cadence of the VVSG for potential changes to be included in future 

iterations of the standard.

The second and final step to operationalize VVSG 2.0 was accreditation of both VSTLs to test 

systems to the new standard. Accreditation of the labs involves assessments performed by both the 

NIST National Voluntary Lab Accreditation Program (NVLAP) as well as the EAC’s Testing and 

Certification Program staff. These assessments were successfully completed by the labs and the 

Commissioners voted to accredit the labs in November and December 2022. With VVSG 2.0 ready 

to be used for testing voting systems, the new Testing and Certification Program Manuals version 

3.0, which includes requirements for penetration testing of all systems submitted to the program 

going forward, is effective. The EAC is now accepting applications to test voting systems to the new 

standard. Currently, one system is in test for VVSG 2.0 certification and several manufactures have 

communicated that they intend to submit systems soon. 

The EAC continued to work with NIST to develop an evaluation process for End-to End Verifiable 

(E2E-V) protocols in voting systems, as required by VVSG 2.0. Both agencies collaborated on 

a two-day webinar held in October to gather feedback on a range of topics regarding E2E-V 

technology. The webinar included four panels with stakeholders on several topics: integrity and voter 

confidence, security, accessibility and human factors, and implementation and testing of E2E-V 

in voting systems. Based on the feedback from the webinar, NIST is planning to conduct research 

to explore technology solutions for voting systems like E2E-V that increase voter confidence in 

election outcomes. Additionally, effective since late 2022, the EAC’s new Testing and Certification 

Program Manuals includes requirements for the test labs to conduct penetration testing on all voting 

systems submitted to the program.
12 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

In addition to the launch of VVSG 2.0, the EAC hired the first Director of the Election Supporting 

Technology Evaluation Program (ESTEP) in FY 2022 and appointed an additional four employees 

in FY 2023 to the new program. ESTEP was created to evaluate the security and accessibility of 

election-supporting technologies such as electronic poll books, electronic ballot delivery systems, 

voter registration portals, and election night reporting databases. ESTEP will lead to the creation 

of draft standards that can be used by Voting System Test Laboratories (VSTLs), the creation of 

program manuals, the administration of pilot programs, and reporting on the results of these pilot 

programs. The objective of the EAC is to establish standards for these critical election-supporting 

technologies similar to VVSG, with the goal to enhance the security and accessibility of these 

systems for all users.

In FY 2023, the EAC moved forward with a voluntary Electronic Poll Book (EPB) Pilot Program. 

As of the general midterm election in November 2022, 2,270 local jurisdictions in 40 states 

utilize EPBs. This program’s goal is to help alleviate some of the burdens currently shouldered by 

states in developing and maintaining EPB standards and conducting testing of broadly applicable 

functionality, such as security, accessibility, and usability. A draft set of requirements was developed 

by the EAC, NIST, and Mandiant. The requirements have been circulated to EAC stakeholders for 

feedback. The EAC also distributed the requirements to both federally accredited Voting System 

Technical Laboratories (VSTL) and all electronic poll book manufacturers across the country, for a 

final review before the pilot testing commenced. 

Once the requirements were reviewed, the EAC opened a call to all electronic poll book 

manufacturers to participate in the EPB pilot. Manufacturers were selected on a first-come, firstserve basis, through their submission of the EPB Pilot Agreement, which indicated an acceptance 

of pilot terms. In total, five electronic poll book manufacturers, one state, and one local jurisdiction 

agreed to participate in the EPB pilot. To ensure balanced representation, each VSTL received the 

same number of pilot participants for testing. The cost of the testing was covered by the EAC, 

as Congress has made EPBs and similar election technologies a priority due to security concerns 

because they are connected systems. VSTL testing concluded in Q4 of 2023. 

As a result of funding from FY 2023, the EAC released its findings from the Voluntary Electronic 

Poll Book Pilot Program in Q1 of FY 2024, marking the culmination of a two-year-long program, in 

which ESTEP worked alongside accredited test laboratories and other stakeholders, to evaluate EPBs 

against the Voluntary Electronic Poll Book Requirements Version 0.9 (VEPBR v0.9). Additionally, 

the EAC hosted an event where panelists discussed the findings and impact of the Voluntary 

E-Poll Book Pilot Program from various perspectives, including EPB manufacturers, voting system 

test laboratories, and state and local jurisdictions. These panelists commented on the advantages 

of testing and certifying e-poll books on the federal level. Lastly, the EAC Commissioners voted 

unanimously to formally adopt ESTEP as a permanent agency program.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 13

ESTEP has already initiated the next steps for testing and certifying e-poll books on the federal level, 

which involves revising the Voluntary Electronic Poll Book Requirements to incorporate baseline 

functional requirements based on state and local standards. In addition, ESTEP has developed 

supporting administrative guidelines in the Election Supporting Technology Evaluation Program 

Manual, to assist manufacturers and voting system test laboratories with adherence to program 

expectations. In Q2 of 2024, EAC Commissioners will formally vote on these two documents 

once all feedback has been implemented from public comments. ESTEP continues to work closely 

with the EAC’s research specialists to enhance data collection methods during the 2024 Election 

Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) reporting for e-poll books to further improve the nation’s 

understanding of the use of these critical systems. 

In FY 2023, the EAC launched a Field Services Program (FSP) to assist state and local jurisdictions 

with quality monitoring of EAC certified systems. This program will accomplish verification of 

certified system configurations, collection, and investigation of voting system anomaly reports, 

provide training and best practices with primary emphasis on industry standard verification and 

security tools, perform state and local site reviews, and manufacturer review. Staff necessary to get 

the program up and running have been onboarded including a program manager and five full-time 

Field Services Specialists dedicated to different regions across the country. The launch of the EAC’s 

Field Services Program is currently underway in its pilot phase. Scope of services has been defined 

and is being socialized to stakeholders at all levels through the EAC’s series of conferences and 

boards, federal partner agencies, state and local organizations, vendors and manufacturers, directly 

to potential participants via our Commissioners, and though direct engagement by Field Service 

Specialist outreach.

Initial solicitation for participation has produced significant demand, with five states formally 

requesting assistance and two more state-requested county pilots at this time. Stakeholders have 

conveyed positive feedback on the value of services the FSP initiative is charged with providing as 

a critical component of successful national election security. The level of engagement and scope of 

projects currently being developed will maximize the dedicated time of all FSP personnel onward 

into FY 2024 and will require a degree of scalability in the near future to meet the needs of delivery 

to potentially include: contract employees, elections consulting services, agency cross-divisional 

cooperation, and hiring additional Field Services Specialists.

Information Technology Improvements

Throughout 2023, the EAC continued to implement improvements to its information technology 

(IT) infrastructure. These include abilities to gain greater visibility into the health of all EAC 

endpoints, whether operating in a remote environment or utilizing our on-premises network. In May 

of 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14028 mandating all Federal Civilian Executive 

Branch agencies take measures to improve the cybersecurity posture of their organizations. One of 

the principal requirements of the Executive Order is to transition our infrastructure to a Zero Trust 

Architecture. The EAC has developed a plan to implement a Zero Trust Architecture and will likely 

need additional funding and expertise to fully realize the transition. Throughout 2023, the EAC 

made progress toward this goal by implementing a single sign-on (SSO) capability, phishing 

resistant multi-factor authentication, and decommissioning of legacy VPN (Virtual Private 

Network) infrastructure.
14 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

In addition to Executive Order 14028, a number of binding operational directives (BODs) and 

OMB memoranda have been issued related to improving cybersecurity. In particular, BOD 22-01 

requires the EAC to remediate vulnerabilities with known exploitations within 14 days of publishing 

on a CISA maintained list. This requirement has caused the EAC to accelerate existing plans for 

automated vulnerability detection and remediation and we are currently able to meet the timelines 

set out by CISA. In 2023, the EAC increased its integration with the CISA continuous diagnostics 

and mitigations (CDM) program by implementing improved endpoint detection and response and 

mobile device monitoring tools. 

Conducting Essential Research on Election 

Administration and Infrastructure

In June 2023, the EAC released the 2022 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) 

Comprehensive Report and dataset. The biennial Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) 

is the agency’s flagship research initiative, collecting nationwide data on election administration 

from nearly 6,500 local election jurisdictions across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. 

territories. The EAVS collects state-by-state, jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction data on a wide variety of 

election administration topics, including voter registration, military and overseas voting, domestic 

civilian by-mail voting, polling operations, provisional ballots, voter participation, and election 

technology. EAVS data is utilized by countless stakeholders in the election community, including 

members of Congress, legislative staff, federal officials, journalists, academics, advocates, and 

election officials themselves. In today’s environment of heightened concerns regarding cybersecurity 

in elections, EAVS data is increasingly being used by intelligence analysts, members of the national 

security community, and other stakeholders who are working to secure U.S. election infrastructure.

The EAC hosted a Data Summit in July 2023 after the release of the 2022 EAVS report and its 

submission to Congress. The event convened state and local election officials, their federal partners, 

and other key election stakeholders to discuss EAVS findings and leveraging data-driven practices to 

improve election administration.

EAC initiatives to improve the EAVS have focused on three interrelated goals: to reduce response 

burden; to strengthen data quality and completeness; and to make the data more accessible and 

useful, particularly for election officials. Respondents to the 2022 EAVS continue to have the option 

of completing the EAVS online, along with the option of using the traditional EAVS data collection 

template. The EAC plans to transition to a fully online survey experience in the coming years.

In early FY 2023, the EAC published its first EAVS Glossary which contains EAVS terms to assist 

POCs in providing correct and accurate data. The EAC posted six Closer Look Videos to its YouTube 

channel, to provide EAVS POCs an overview of the 2022 EAVS Survey Instruments. The agency 

conducted eight state-requested webinars for states who used the online template to complete the 

EAVS, which provided states with a customized walkthrough of how to complete the 2022 EAVS 

using the online template.

The EAC is currently preparing to administer the 2024 EAVS. The EAC has conducted needs 

assessments with states on how the 2022 EAVS went and on how the 2024 EAVS can be improved. 
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 15

As of this writing, the EAC has made progress in the development of three HAVA Studies: 1. 

Methods of Recruiting, Training, and Improving the Performance of Poll Workers; 2. Federal and 

State Laws Governing the Eligibility of Persons to Vote; and 3. Laws and Procedures used by Each 

State Concerning Recounts, What Constitutes a Vote, and Contesting Ballots. The three reports are 

scheduled to be published in 2024. 

Election Accessibility

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) contained landmark provisions creating the right for voters 

with disabilities to mark cast and verify their ballots privately and independently. Since then, 

states have made significant efforts to eliminate barriers and close the voter registration and voter 

participation gaps that exist between voters with disabilities and voters without disabilities. However, 

obstacles still exist for voters with disabilities and additional progress is needed to realize the true 

promise of HAVA. 

While no one solution can be applied across the thousands of jurisdictions that comprise America’s 

decentralized election system, there are common threads in how best to serve voters with disabilities. 

Under the leadership of the EAC Senior Accessibility Subject Matter Expert, the EAC elevates best 

practices that can serve as exemplary models to election officials, ensuring there are multiple options 

that accommodate the diversity of disabilities. In October 2023, the EAC worked with the National 

Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) to develop targeted training materials on accessibility and 

disability awareness. This series of brief training videos provides tools to remedy accessibility barriers 

identified in previous EAC work and serve as a valuable resource for election officials, poll workers, 

and other stakeholders.

The EAC also ensures voters are educated about their rights by actively engaging voters with 

disabilities and advocacy groups. The EAC also distributes copies of the EAC’s disability voting rights 

pamphlet, which uses plain language to spell out federal voting rights for persons with disabilities in 

large print and Braille. In 2023, EAC Commissioners and staff participated in key stakeholder events 

focused on voting for persons with disabilities, including the National Disability Rights Network, 

African American Conference on Disabilities, and the Digital Accessibility Legal Summit. 

Following up on the well-received 2020 national survey, the EAC commissioned Rutgers University 

to conduct a comprehensive analysis of accessibility in the 2022 general election. The full report, 

titled “Disability and Voting Accessibility in the 2022 Elections” was released on July 12, 2023. 

The researchers focused on voter accessibility in the 2022 election, comparing the results to the 

same post-election surveys that were conducted in 2020 and 2012. The survey covered topics such 

as voter turnout, difficulties voting, assistance voting, voting methods, and treatment by election 

officials. The findings are critical for election officials who continuously work to meet the needs of 

their jurisdictions and make voting accessible to all eligible voters. 

For election officials, the agency is developing an Accessible Equipment Calculator that helps 

election officials to estimate the number of accessible devices at a polling place, based on the specific 

demographics of the jurisdiction. HAVA mandates a minimum of one accessible voting device per 

polling place in federal elections. However, jurisdictions have different needs and disability rates vary 

across the country. This calculator will help election officials estimate if additional voting devices are 

needed based on the proportion of voters with disabilities, to achieve a voter wait time of less than 

30 minutes. 
16 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Clearinghouse

Established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), the EAC is charged with serving 

as a clearinghouse for election administration information. In FY 2023, the EAC expanded the 

Clearinghouse Division, made up of former election officials, experts in election administration, 

election law, and accessibility. The Clearinghouse team produced numerous resources to help 

election officials implement best practices on communication, election official security, voter list 

maintenance, developing continuity of operations plans (COOP), serving uniformed and overseas 

voters, accessibility practices to serve voters with disabilities and, and numerous other subjects. The 

agency also utilized FY 2023 funding to expand into innovative research and training including a 

partnership with the University of Rhode Island to simulate thousands of polling place scenarios to 

identify best practices. 

In 2023, under its clearinghouse function, the EAC began the process of identifying and developing 

topic areas and best practices to build and host a free training program for election officials 

nationwide. The EAC Learning Lab will host training content and allow officials from all jurisdictions 

to participate regardless of their local budget. This program is especially needed given the turnover 

of election officials in the past year. Additionally, it aims to raise the professionalism of election 

administrators in general. The EAC Learning Lab will also facilitate the exchange of ideas and best 

practices that is core to the EAC’s mission. 

The Clearinghouse Division also revised and published the Election Management Guidelines (EMG) 

to assist state and local election officials in effectively managing and administering elections in the 

United States. This comprehensive resource assists election officials with getting quickly up to speed 

regarding all aspects of election administration. The updated version covers 19 chapters on topics 

such as voting system certification, system security, accessibility, ballot building, absentee voting, 

and recounts, with increased focus on relevant election technologies that have changed since the 

last EMG from 15 years ago. As mentioned above, the field of election administration continues to 

see high levels of turnover, the EMG represents an important addition to EAC’s growing library of 

resources for election officials.

The EAC is also continuing work on the EAC Clearinghouse Network – a collaborative peer-to-peer 

platform where election officials can find resources, connect with experts and colleagues in other 

jurisdictions, and discuss emerging issues. To fulfill the mission of the EAC’s clearinghouse function, 

the agency recognizes that election officials must be able to easily communicate with each other on 

common issues and solutions. This resource offers a secure platform for that important collaboration.

The network is organized by community topics, and individual posts and resources can be tagged. 

Users can also list their skills and interests on their profiles, making it easy for community members 

to connect with experts on specific subjects. Election officials themselves are often an excellent 

the best source of hands-on experience and direct primary information, and the EAC applies 

their hands-on experience to facilitate discussions between states and localities on many election 

administration topics. In May 2023, the Clearinghouse Network launched in its pilot phase with 

EAC FACA Board members. This initial stage of this project will commence over the next few 

weeks, with an expanded controlled launch of this system occurring throughout the summer. 
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 17

The project is currently expanding access to users across the nation in the 2024 election cycle.

In 2023, the EAC held the Seventh Annual Clearinghouse Awards, also known as the “Clearie” 

Awards, for best practices in election administration. The EAC launched the Clearies to further 

the clearinghouse mandate to promote best practices in elections, and to highlight the successful 

use of Congressionally appropriated HAVA funds, while celebrating the accomplishments of 

election officials.

The award categories include innovation in election administration; improving accessibility for voters 

with disabilities; best practices in recruiting, training, and retaining poll workers; creative and original 

“I Voted” sticker design; innovation in election cybersecurity and technology, outstanding use of 

HAVA grants in election modernization, and outstanding election official association program or 

local office. Winners were selected by four independent panels of election officials from the EAC’s 

advisory boards with the EAC Commissioners serving as judges for the sticker category.

In 2023, the EAC issued Clearie awards to 24 programs with honorees ranging from large states 

with more than 6.5 million voters to townships of less than 80,000 registered voters. To provide 

even more best practices to election administrators, the EAC also recognized 16 offices and their 

efforts for Clearie Honorable Mention awards.

The EAC continued to add more state-specific resources to its website, directing voters to 

trusted sources for voter registration, options to cast a ballot, and contact information for where 

they are registered.

HAVA Security Grants

The EAC awarded $75 million in Election Security Grant funds in FY 2023. The funding included a 

requirement that grantees report financial data on a quarterly basis. These federal funds supplement 

local and state expenditures and allow the states to purchase more secure voting systems, maintain 

cybersecurity programs, and improve election infrastructure. Beginning January 2023, the agency 

implemented the new quarterly financial reporting requirement from the FY 2022 funding. The 

EAC pursued Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) approval to ensure that the required reporting was 

standardized to reduce the reporting burden across grant recipients. 

Multiple training events were held to support the Federal Financial and Progress reporting 

requirements for all HAVA grants. The emphasis on training at critical compliance points led to 

improved and increased reporting compliance. Grants staff reviewed over 300 financial and progress 

reports in FY 2023. The EAC Grants office responded to a high volume of inquiries regarding 

allowable, allocable, reasonable, and necessary expenditures and funding activities. 

The College Poll Worker Program was relaunched after a 13-year hiatus with FY 2023 funding of 

$1 million in no-year funds. The College Program grants are authorized under Title V of the Help 

America Vote Act (HAVA) to encourage student participation as poll workers or assistants, to 

foster student interest in the elections process, and to encourage state and local governments to use 

students as poll workers. The grants also aim to relieve poll worker shortages. The EAC developed 

two options for the funding opportunity to achieve its objective – a Service Day model around the 

EAC Help America Vote Day and EAC Poll Worker Recruitment Day and a traditional two-year 

Poll Worker grant. The first round of awards were made in Q2 of FY 2024.
18 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) funding was available to prevent, 

prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic for the 2020 federal election cycle. Under 

HAVA, states had until March 2022 to meet the matching requirements, at which point the 

CARES grants expired and automatically entered the closeout process. Training was provided to 

grantees on closing out the grant and guidance was published on the EAC website. In FY 2023, 

the EAC continued the closeout process with individual grants for which activities had concluded 

and financials were reconciled, closing ten CARES grants in FY 2023 for a total of 55 of 56 grants 

closed. The EAC closed the remaining grant in December of FY 2024. Many states spent all their 

funding, while some states have returned federal funds including interest earned on those funds. The 

federal funds returned in FY 2023 totaled $9,092,813.

Additional grants developments included hiring two additional full-time Grants Management 

Specialists to oversee and support the increased grants administration responsibilities for the agency 

and the development of the new College Program and its administration. The responsibilities have 

increased in report reviews, audit resolution and adding a new competitive grants program.

At the close of FY 2023, the EAC offboarded from HHS’ GrantSolutions grants administration 

software as a service to a custom-built grants management system built on the Appian platform. The 

upgrade and modernization of the grant system will allow staff to dedicate more time to strategic 

activities and providing technical support to grantees. The new system will automate critical grant 

processes to improve the execution of grant activities and reduce the administrative burden for both 

grantees and EAC staff. Staff can focus on developing enhanced technical assistance training for 

award management, best practices, audit readiness, and education on federal grants administration. 

The full grant system will be deployed in FY 2024. 
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 19

Operating Plan Summary

(DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS)

Salaries and Expenses FY 2023 

Enacted

FY 2024 

Estimate

FY 2024 

President’s 

Budget

FY 2025 

Request

Full-Time Equivalent 66 87 87 91

11 Payroll Personnel Compensation 7,403 10,162 9,254 11,847

12.1 Personnel Benefits 3,172 4,354 4,006 5,077

Subtotal PC&B 10,575 14,516 13,260 16,924

21 Travel 1,087 953 428 1,037

23 Rent, Communications, Utilities 1,129 1,191 797 1,046

24 Printing and reproduction 54 98 20 71

25 Other Contractual Services 11,198 8,422 15,334 16,667

25.3 NIST Allocation 1,500 1,500 2,500 1,500

26 Supplies and Subscriptions 196 195 174 306

31 Equipment 1,254 118 1,288 440

41 Grants1 1,000 1,000 - -

94 Financial Transfers (OIG) 7 7 7 9

Subtotal, Non-Personnel 17,425 13,484 20,548 21,076

Total Salaries and Expenses 28,000 28,000 33,808 38,000

1

College Poll Worker Grant

Election Innovation Grants FY 2023 

Enacted

FY 2024 

Estimate

FY 2024 

President’s 

Budget

FY 2025 

Request

Full-Time Equivalent - - - 5

11&12 Payroll and Benefits - - - 1,000

25 Other Contractual Services - - - 1,000

41 Grants 75,000 75,000 300,000 94,000

Total Grants 75,000 75,000 300,000 96,000
20 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

FY 2025 Budget Request Highlights

In November 2024, the nation will administer and participate in the 2024 presidential election. 

The mission of the EAC is to help election officials protect the nation’s voting systems, improve 

the administration of elections, and help Americans participate in the voting process. The agency’s 

mission is also vital to national security and the protection of critical election infrastructure. 

Continuing the commitment to the EAC’s penetration testing, Field Services, and vulnerability 

disclosure programs is critical to ensuring a secure democratic voting process throughout 

the country. 

The EAC’s FY 2025 budget justification highlights the agency’s plans to continue to help election 

officials efficiently and effectively administer secure and accessible elections by developing and 

sharing best practices, as well as research and report election administration data. The agency’s 

budget submission also looks to build on its recent growth and make continued key investments 

in areas of emerging importance including expanding a much-needed audit program for voting 

systems. Additionally, the EAC looks to strategically apply critical administrative funding internally 

to enhance agency management and performance, make substantial improvements in the areas of 

communications and web development, and advance agency equity and diversity. 

Cyber Access and Security Program / Vulnerability Disclosure & 

Independent Security Research 

In FY 2025, the EAC will continue to build on its Cyber Access and Security (CAS) Program, 

providing cybersecurity support both to internal EAC operations and external customers. Federal 

Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) documentation and compliance functions and 

technical cybersecurity expertise are provided by the program to support the EAC’s IT operations. 

Externally, the program provides training, best practices, and other materials to assist election 

officials, voters, and others to improve the cybersecurity posture of their systems, practices, and 

procedures in the face of growing cyberthreats to national security. The program works with other 

federal partners through the Government Coordinating Council to ensure its products are focused 

and relevant while not duplicating the efforts of other agencies.

The EAC has an urgent need to support election technology vulnerability tracking, mitigation, and 

public disclosure in the support of national security and will develop a program for these activities 

under the CAS Program. Additionally, the EAC plans to launch a voluntary program for independent 

security research on voting systems and election supporting technology. To execute this essential 

effort, the EAC seeks to hire additional full-time cybersecurity specialists. These specialists will set 

up and streamline voting system vulnerability disclosure processes. They will also work with trusted 

researchers and election technology manufacturers to manage vulnerability findings and mitigations.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 21

Field Services Program / Election Technology Requirements

As a part of its FY 2025 budget request, the EAC requests funding for two additional staff to 

execute its Field Services Program. This program will allow the EAC to ensure configurations of 

fielded EAC certified systems are consistent with their scope of certification, gather anomaly 

reports from election officials, provide election best-practice trainings, provide audit training 

and support, and perform site reviews. These requests are in direct support of HAVA and the 

Administration’s cybersecurity priorities. It is critical that the EAC have adequate funding to ensure 

the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of certified voting systems that are in the field. The 

current EAC program has six dedicated personnel to perform these tasks on behalf of election 

officials, however, the success of the program relies on adding more staff to meet the needs of 

the large number of jurisdictions we expect to assist. To perform the quality monitoring the EAC 

requires in its current program manual, adequate staff must be placed regionally to provide support 

to election offices throughout the nation.

Additionally, the EAC Election Supporting Technology Evaluation Program (ESTEP) aims to 

establish specialty requirements and guidelines specific to technology used for election support that 

are not covered under VVSG, such as electronic poll books, voter registration systems, election night 

reporting systems, and ballot delivery systems. Each evaluation of election technology will be initially 

executed as a pilot program to assess adequacy of requirements and the parameters that would make 

the most effective and agile evaluation program. In addition, the EAC will find and fund experts to 

assist with the development of these new programs. 

The EAC utilized FY 2023 funds to launch and finalize a pilot testing and certification program 

for electronic pollbooks that closely contours the existing voting system testing and certification 

program and requests FY 2025 funds to establish a permanent program. The agency’s pilot leverages 

well-understood processes and allows the utilization of existing testing and certification expertise in 

addition to the hiring of experts to determine the effectiveness of this type of program. The program 

developed security and accessibility requirements for these critical pieces of election infrastructure 

that, due to their online nature, are inherently more vulnerable to exploitation than voting systems. 

The agency requests FY 2025 funds to take findings from the Electronic Poll Book Pilot Program 

and expand testing to protect the nation’s other election supporting technologies, including 

accessible and secure ballot delivery for voters with disabilities and Uniformed and Overseas Citizens 

Voting Act (UOCAVA) voters. Strengthening the security of these systems is a national security 

imperative but must be undertaken with a strong focus on accessibility testing to ensure voters with 

disabilities have access to a private and independent vote. The EAC will utilize the experience of 

the agency’s voting system testing and certification program to strike this balance within the pilot 

program to ensure ballot delivery systems are both accessible and secure. 
22 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Election Official Training Program

Since 2020, election officials, interested stakeholders, and the public have engaged in a national 

conversation on how to restore trust in the elections process. While the public generally trusts their 

local elections office, this does not translate to trust in election officials in other localities or states. 

One way to address this problem is the creation of a national-level election official training program 

to increase the professionalization of election administration and to generate trust in election 

officials. It is widely accepted within the field that professionalization is needed to help assure voters 

that elections are run accurately, with integrity, and in accordance with the law. The cost of private 

education and training can be exorbitant and not open to all election officials or key personnel within 

an office. A federally funded and no cost training program can address concerns about increased 

turnover in elections offices or eschewing necessary training due to a lack of funding. New 

election officials are entering the field at a challenging time and must quickly learn election 

laws and processes that are increasingly complicated. In recent surveys, a significant portion of 

election officials surveyed plan to leave the field before 2024 and recruiting and retaining staff 

remains a challenge. 

Election administration has become increasingly complex, particularly since elections were 

designated as critical infrastructure in 2017. Small oversights in routine election processes can lead 

to further erosion of trust in our election system. The EAC will utilize best practices developed and 

collected under the clearinghouse function to build and host a free training program for election 

officials nationwide. As the only federal agency solely focused on improving election administration, 

the EAC is uniquely positioned to provide professional development training at little or no cost to 

participants. This program will allow officials from all jurisdictions to participate regardless of their 

local budget. It will facilitate the exchange of ideas, including implementing new voting systems, 

ensuring the security of elections, and promoting best practices that are core to the EAC’s mission.

Training programs help to build the foundation of necessary skills to understand election laws, 

regulations, and procedures, minimizing the likelihood of errors. Well-trained election officials 

are also better equipped to identify and address potential issues, such as managing large turnouts, 

addressing technical glitches, or responding to emergencies. The training program is currently under 

development, in consultation with numerous stakeholders.

Advancing Agency Management and Performance

While the EAC’s mission remains unchanged, the current election environment is dynamic and the 

agency must grow and maintain a workforce not only with the required technical and management 

skills for program and project delivery meeting stakeholder needs, but also one that is viable, 

committed, talented, and diverse. Plans are to increase the current agency workforce by 25 FTEs 

in FY 2025. This will require the Human Resources (HR) function to become forward-thinking to 

provide guidance on strategic and operational human capital management issues and less focused 

on traditional administrative and compliance activities. HR transactional responsibilities will never 

be eliminated, however, separating transactional work from strategic work will be an essential step in 

transforming EAC’s HR function.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 23

Maintaining a quality management and performance curriculum continues to be critical for EAC. 

The newly revised performance management system, administered by NeoGov, was implemented 

in FY 2022 and continued evaluation of the program will be necessary to improve the process. 

Leadership training continues to be critical and the EAC has included in its FY 2025 budget request 

funding for continued supervisor training.

EAC Commissioners approved OPM studies to be performed on the agency’s structure and 

performance on a regular basis. Again, monies for such a study are requested to analyze and plan the 

number and skills of employees needed to achieve EAC’s mission. Workforce planning is a key HR 

function and must be addressed as staffing needs increase.

As the EAC gradually brings more HR services in-house to increase the quality and effectiveness 

of human resource actions and activities related to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, this 

will require more HR staff with a higher degree of specialization in order to be effective. Such role 

specificity will allow HR the flexibility to offset peak work demands in one HR area with staff from 

another and promote greater efficiency in performance management, employee development, 

diversity initiatives, and other HR functions.

To achieve some of the agency’s diversity and inclusion initiatives requires collaboration between the 

Equity Office and the Office of Human Resources. Working together, the two offices will provide 

a strategy to ensure that recruitment, hires, and promotions are conducted with EEO, equity and 

merit system principles in mind. They will also be held accountable for the practices designed to 

widen and diversify groups of qualified candidates considered for employment openings at all levels 

of EAC.

Advancing Equity

Unlike larger agencies, the EAC historically did not have an Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The 

agency filled this void in FY 2023 by hiring a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility (DEIA) & 

Equal Employment Officer (EEO) Officer to advise, represent, and assist the EAC’s Executive 

Director, Human Resources, and the Office of General Counsel on civil rights and equal opportunity 

matters. These matters relate both internally to the EAC and externally to states and other 

stakeholders. For example, the team will ensure:

• The continued promotion of equal employment opportunities in the recruitment, hiring, 

development, and retention of a highly skilled, diverse, and effective workforce.

• Equal access and compliance with internal civil rights programs and services affecting EAC 

employees and applicants for employment.

• Equal access and compliance with external civil rights programs and services relating to the 

beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries of Help America Vote Act (HAVA) programs receiving 

federal financial assistance through EAC, including assisting states in complying with voting laws 

and civil rights voting laws.
24 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

It is important that the work of EAC’s newly established OCR is in alignment with the goals of EAC, 

which are as follows:

• Expand the nation’s comprehensive understanding of American election administration.

• Proactively and responsively create products that help election officials improve the 

administration of elections and help voters more easily participate in elections.

• Help election officials improve the administration of American elections through the distribution 

of EAC assistance and products.

Reaffirm dedication to being good stewards of public funds, contributing positively to the federal 

government, and continuing to build and operate an agency that is diverse and impactful.

Competitive Election Innovation Grants 

The EAC requests $96,000,000 to administer grants under the Election Innovation Grants 

program. The EAC aims to foster research and innovation in the areas of voting technology and 

election infrastructure, cybersecurity and other security safeguards, comprehensive election and 

voting accessibility, usability, language translation services, voter education and election civics 

communication, and other areas such as emergency COOP response. This approach will further 

improve and enhance processes and procedures in the administration of federal elections. 

The 2020 federal election cycle saw unprecedented challenges, including a worldwide pandemic, but 

also an adverse shift in voter confidence. The Election Innovation Grants program will allow the EAC 

to distribute funds on a competitive basis to those state and local entities that can provide innovative 

solutions to issues surrounding the administration of federal elections, including pilot initiatives. The 

program will advance election administration through novel approaches to voting processes and the 

implementation of the latest technology with the goal of creating replicable trends and models that 

will improve the field overall. 

By establishing a competitive grants initiative, the EAC can help election officials safeguard the 

voting experience for all voters, including those with disabilities or other access needs, veterans, 

individuals needing translation services, and remote overseas voters. Given the focus on increased 

election security, it is crucial that cybersecurity concerns are balanced with accessibility to foster 

free and fair elections. 

Under this program, the EAC will solicit, review, award, and oversee funds available to grantees 

while adhering to strict evaluation criteria weighted on the quality of the proposal, project design, 

demonstrated capacity of the applicant to deliver, potential scalability and replicability, the longterm impact of the project, as well as the cost-effectiveness of proposed activities. The Election 

Innovation Grants program would simultaneously bolster election security and innovation through 

the EAC grants process as well as the EAC clearinghouse function through mandated reporting.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 25

Mandatory Formula Grants

In addition, the President’s Budget proposes legislation to support critical state and local election 

infrastructure, through a significant and sustained federal investment to improve equitable access 

and ensure our elections are secure. The legislation would provide $5 billion in 2025, to be expended 

over ten years through formula grants administered by the Election Assistance Commission, to allow 

for states to upgrade their equipment in accordance with VVSG 2.0 standards.
26 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Budgetary Changes: FY 2024 Full-Year 

Estimate to FY 2025 Request 

(ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST THOUSAND DOLLARS)

PERSONNEL COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS: + $2,408,000

Assumes full annualized rate for existing personnel, those assumed under an annualized CR level for FY 

2024, and a FY 2025 increase of 4 FTE with associated cost of living adjustment.

TRAVEL: + $84,000

OTHER SERVICES: + $8,245,000

Includes federal contracts and other contractual services reflected in the FY 2025 Budget request as 

compared to annualized CR level for FY 2024.

M I S C E L L A N E O U S : 

Equipment: - $322,000

Supplies & Subscriptions: + $111,000

Printing & Reproduction: - $27,000

Rent, Utilities: - $145,000 

Financial Transfers: + $2,000 

GRANTS:

HAVA College Poll Worker Grant: -$1,000,000

Election Security/Election Innovation Grants: + $21,000,000
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 27

Budget Requests and Performance 

Measures by Strategic Goal

The EAC’s request is presented in terms of its three strategic goals. The full strategic plan can be 

found on the EAC’s website (https://www.eac.gov/about-eac/operations): 

1. Strengthen American elections through the development and implementation of responsive and 

dynamic voting system guidelines and cyber resources for election officials; 

2. Encourage improvements to election administration through the development and distribution 

of resources that assist election officials in modernizing American elections; and

3. Create operational excellence throughout agency management and programming.

Strategic Goal 1

Strengthen American elections through the development and implementation of responsive and 

dynamic voting system guidelines and cyber resources for election officials.

Staff from the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Office of the General Counsel, Testing 

and Certification, Clearinghouse, Communications, and Research Divisions collaborate toward the 

success of goal one. 

Objectives and success indicators for the goal are as follows: 

OBJECTIVES

Objectives of the goal include continuing to evolve the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 

and related policies, developing programs under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to bolster 

security and accessibility standards of election technology, and leveraging and expanding the EAC’s 

existing technical expertise to provide timely resources to increase the security posture of critical 

infrastructure including voting systems, e-poll books, and other areas. 
28 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

SUCCESS INDICATORS

The anticipated success indicators of the goal are the yearly review of the Voluntary Voting System 

Guidelines (VVSG) for potential updates, the certification of a VVSG 2.0 compliant system, the 

successful piloting of a program for e-poll book testing and certification leading to the creation 

of a permanent program, conducting a pilot program for other election supporting technology, 

establishing a voting system vulnerability disclosure policy, independent security research for 

election technology, the creation of an online training system with courses focused on 

election cybersecurity fundamentals, and the successful cybersecurity defense of the 2024 

presidential election. 

1. Field Services Program, Evaluation of Election Supporting Technology

Under HAVA, the EAC is responsible for assisting states with improvements of voting systems 

through the distribution of federal funds and by creating and administering a voluntary voting system 

testing and certification program. The testing and certification program creates and maintains 

standards against which voting systems can be tested, works with EAC accredited voting system test 

labs to test voting systems against these standards, and certifies voting systems that successfully pass 

these tests. This standard is called the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG). States’ use of 

this standard and the EAC’s accompanying testing and certification program are voluntary, but most 

states choose to use the standard or its testing program in whole or in part. The VVSG helps states 

and localities, which are charged with selecting their own voting systems, select high-quality, secure, 

and accessible voting systems with confidence.

The EAC recognizes the national security need for robust voting system security testing in the 

Testing and Certification Program. To meet this goal, penetration testing is a requirement in the new 

program manuals for the VVSG. This testing is used to help assess the security posture of voting 

systems entering the EAC’s Testing and Certification Program. Penetration testing will also be used 

to confirm mitigations are in place for known vulnerabilities. These additional requirements will work 

in concert with the expansion of the Testing and Certification division to further strengthen the 

nation’s voting systems from domestic and foreign threats. 

Under the authority of HAVA, the EAC also plans to establish specialty requirements and 

guidelines specific to equipment used for election supporting technologies in FY 2025. The Election 

Supporting Technology Evaluation Program (ESTEP) plans on building on the momentum of the 

electronic poll book pilot and certification program, by continuing to pilot additional technologies, 

such as electronic ballot delivery systems, voter registration portals, and election night reporting 

databases. The goal of these pilot programs will be to initiate a permanent program or best practices 

for stakeholders that will be informed by data and experience from the pilot. Ensuring the security 

of these systems is a major national security priority. The nature of these technologies and the lack 

of a coordinated testing program for them makes them inherently more vulnerable to intrusion or 

exploitation.

In addition to voting system certification and laboratory accreditation, the EAC and its 110-member 

Standards Board, 37-member Board of Advisors, and 14-member Technical Guidelines Development 

Committee (TGDC) continue to work together to annually review potential changes to the 

Voluntary Voting System Guidelines and update the requirements when deemed necessary.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 29

2. Cyber Access and Security Program / Vulnerability Disclosure & 

Independent Security Research

The EAC will continue to build on its Cyber Access and Security (CAS) Program, providing 

cybersecurity support both to internal EAC operations and external customers. FISMA 

documentation and compliance functions as well as technical cybersecurity expertise are provided by 

the program in support of the EAC’s IT operations. Additionally, the EAC will continue to bolster its 

cyber defenses to achieve full zero-trust capability. Externally, the program provides training, best 

practices, and other materials to assist election officials, voters, and others improve the cybersecurity 

posture of their systems, practices, and procedures. The program works with other federal partners 

through the Government Coordinating Council to ensure its products are focused and relevant and 

do not duplicate the efforts of other agencies.

Under the CAS Program, the EAC will work to establish a policy for voting system vulnerability 

management and public disclosure. Hiring election technology specialists with security expertise 

is required to support and execute these efforts. Additionally, infrastructure to host vulnerability 

testing, recruit security researchers, and offer bug bounties will be necessary as part of this effort.

THE FY 2025 REQUEST

For FY 2025, the EAC requests funds to meet its congressional mandates to create, manage, and 

administer voluntary voting system standards and accompanying testing and certification program 

as well as provide resources that help election officials administer elections and help Americans 

participate in the voting process. Specifically, the EAC will:

• Continue expanding a Field Services Program to assist election administrators with conducting 

fielded system configuration reviews and conducting audit activities.

• Implement a voting system vulnerability management and disclosure policy as well as an 

independent security research program for election technology.

• Produce and publish best practice resources such as toolkits, videos, educational tools, blogs, 

and white papers on topics including securing complex election and voter databases, making 

voting accessible for all voters, training and managing poll workers, auditing, chain of custody, 

and cybersecurity.

• Continue expanding efforts to support additional testing of voting systems. This includes security 

penetration testing for every voting system submitted to the Testing and Certification Program, 

applying strengthened cybersecurity and accessibility requirements, new interoperability 

requirements, and annual review of VVSG requirements that keep pace with advancements 

in technology. 
30 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Strategic Goal 2

Encourage improvements to election administration through the development and distribution of 

resources that assist election officials in modernizing American elections.

Staff from the Clearinghouse, Communications, Finance, Office of the General Counsel, Grants, 

Office of the Chief Information Officer, Research, and Testing and Certification Divisions 

collaborate toward the success of goal two. Objectives and success indicators for the goal are 

as follows: 

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the goal are to serve as a clearinghouse of election best practices by continually 

creating resources that help election officials improve the administration and integrity of elections 

and help voters participate in elections, increase confidence in America’s elections and transform the 

common understanding of election administration through commissioning innovative research, and 

effectively and efficiently distributing federal resources to EAC stakeholders. 

SUCCESS INDICATORS

Congress charged the EAC with acting as the nation’s clearinghouse of election administration 

information by a) crafting and managing a national voluntary standard and testing program for voting 

system testing and certification, b) collecting and publishing information and research on election 

administration information and data, and c) collecting and distributing election administration best 

practices. In strategic goal two, the EAC fulfills these mandates by using its expertise to build and 

manage these clearinghouse and grants resources. 

In FY 2025, the EAC will continue to expand the nation’s comprehensive understanding of 

American election administration by managing and maintaining the nation’s clearinghouse of election 

administration information and practices, analyzing 2024 Election Administration and Voting Survey 

(EAVS) data, conducting research of best practices and emerging topics in election administration 

in areas such as cybersecurity, accessibility, language access, and technology, and effectively 

distributing federal resources to stakeholders. 

The success indicators for the clearinghouse of information on election administration and the use 

of EAC resources by election officials, the production and release of resources on top priorities 

as identified by EAC advisory boards, onsite and online trainings, fostering and platforming interjurisdiction communication, steady growth of engagement with the agency by election officials via 

newsletters and social media, and an increase in the use of the EAC website. 

Additionally, anticipated success indicators of this goal include an analysis of EAVS data that 

produces insights into U.S. election administration; successful creation of tools to make responding 

to EAVS and analyzing EAVS data easier; increases in the number of entities providing information, 

research, and data related to U.S. election administration; and the ability to better design EAC 

assistance products for the agency’s stakeholders.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 31

Through its activities under this goal, the agency works to ensure the resources and expertise of the 

EAC, and the broader federal government are distributed effectively, efficiently, and responsibly. 

In the last three years, Congress has appropriated $1.2 billion of federal funds for the improvement 

of election administration including a focus on election security. Congress designated the EAC to 

administer, monitor and audit these funds. In furtherance of this goal, the success indicators of the 

distribution of federal resources are the timely and accurate disbursement of funds, the resolution of 

audit findings, the timely closing of grants, and accurate and complete financial reporting. 

The election administration space continually moves at a fast pace as it is increasingly interconnected 

due to increased scrutiny from the media and national security efforts such as DHS’s Critical 

Infrastructure framework. For these reasons, the EAC plans to continue extensive work under 

Strategic Goal Two into FY 2024 in order to best serve the nation.

Note: The EAC’s OIG activities impact the EAC’s work under strategic goal two. The EAC’s OIG request 

is detailed starting on page 40.

1. Clearinghouse 

Congress charged the EAC with building and maintaining a national clearinghouse of election 

administration information and best practices. Maintaining this clearinghouse requires the EAC to 

regularly research current election administration practices, pressing election administration issues, 

and needs, as well as collect best practices from across the country. The clearinghouse function had 

become even more essential with the designation of voting systems as critical infrastructure in 2017, 

which requires additional staff, time, resources, and domain knowledge to protect the nations critical 

infrastructure against emerging cyber and physical threats. In addition, since the 2020 election 

cycle, staff shortages and turn-over in elections offices have continued and led to an increased need 

for training and workforce development. To meet this need, the EAC produced nation-leading 

resources on chain of custody, audits, post-election procedures including results reporting, toolkits 

for communicating with voters and the public, poll worker recruitment and training, language access, 

accessibility for voters with disabilities, and general election security for states, localities, and voters. 

These resources have continued to expand and address the needs of election officials.

As the only federal agency that focuses on the whole of elections, the EAC’s clearinghouse work 

serves as a powerful central hub and single “go-to” location for election officials and voters as 

they work to improve the administration of and participate in in their elections. EAC stakeholders 

regularly use these resources to improve the administration of their elections, educate voters, and 

generally increase voters’ confidence in the nation’s elections. State and local election officials, 

Congress, other federal agencies, and voters regularly leverage these EAC resources. 

In FY 2025, the EAC will continue to add best practices resources that focus on topics such as 

security, contingency planning, accessibility, voting system procurement, voter education and 

communication strategies, poll worker recruitment and management and other topics that emerged 

during recent election cycles. The EAC collects these best practices through hearings, in-person and 

virtual meetings, national election official and stakeholder conferences, leveraging its advisory boards’ 

extensive knowledge and experience, commissioner led hearings, and an innovative annual contest. 
32 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

Through each of these means, the EAC learns from the diversity of approaches taken by the nation’s 

thousands of election jurisdictions and helps the rest of the nation learn from their peers. These 

election administration best practice areas regularly include:

• Poll worker recruitment, management, and training;

• Voter registration list management;

• Polling place management;

• Procurement of voting and voter registration systems;

• Voter education and communication strategies;

• Security of voting systems; 

• Accessibility for voters with disabilities; and

• Access for voters with limited English proficiency.

Since the establishment of the Local Leadership Council (LLC) in 2021, the EAC has worked on 

recruitment and laying the structural framework for the Council so the agency can utilize this board 

to its full potential. As members work more with the EAC and understand their role and importance 

in providing analysis and recommendations to the EAC on local election administration topics, the 

EAC will continue to find ways to engage them and tap into this resource to better serve officials and 

voters. Membership in the LLC consists of 100 members with two members from each state who are 

currently or recently serving officers of each state’s local election official association.

The clearinghouse is hosted on the EAC’s website, https://www.eac.gov, and it contains best 

practices, research, instructional videos, and white papers on a wide variety of topics such as voter 

registration, voter registration list management, poll worker recruiting and management, staff 

training, voting system information, election system procurement help, chain of custody, audits, and 

security. These resources are essential to the nation as its election officials face the new and everevolving physical and cybersecurity threats. Election officials regularly look to the EAC as a starting 

place when understanding new issues and the EAC is dedicated to ensuring that when election 

officials look for help defending their election and voting systems, they are provided with what 

they need.

The EAC’s website is a popular resource for voters and election officials as they seek help 

administering or improving elections in their jurisdictions. On the EAC’s website, the agency hosts 

downloadable copies of all current and legacy resources. The most popular set of resources on 

the EAC’s website is the agency’s resources for voters, particularly voter registration. Every day, 

voters and potential voters come to the EAC’s website to learn how to register to vote. Information 

like dates and deadlines, links and other updates requires regular monitoring to make sure the 

information provided is accurate. In 2024, the EAC continually added and updated information on 

registration and options to cast a ballot as well as information about becoming a poll worker. These 

efforts were further strengthened by efforts to the National Pollworker Recruitment Day and Help 

America Vote Day. Though the redesign process for the site was in process in 2023, the work to 

make sure information is updated and the site is easily accessible is an ongoing effort. Enhancements 

to the usability and functionality of the website are an ongoing effort and continual work to make this 

resource the most effective it can be is a priority for the agency.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 33

In FY 2025, the EAC will continue to host election information and best practices on its public 

facing website, hold events and hearings, and it will continue to meet its congressional mandate by 

further researching election subjects.

2. Election Administration & Voting Survey and Subsequent Congressional Report

Congress mandates that the EAC study a number of election administration topics, and the EAC 

must study others to effectively carry its charge as the national clearinghouse. The additional topics 

that the EAC chooses to study are selected based on legislative mandates and the current and 

expected future needs of election officials and voters.

The EAC administers and oversees the biennial Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS), 

the only comprehensive collection and report of data on election administration and voting systems 

of its kind. In FY 2025, the EAC will process, analyze, and release data from the 2024 Election 

Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS), the 11th iteration of the survey since the first one in 

2004. Through the EAVS, the EAC surveys the 50 States, the District of Columbia, American 

Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The survey, 

performed in conjunction with the Department of Defense’s Federal Voting Assistance Program 

(FVAP), collects data for more than 650 variables related to voter registration, military and overseas 

voting, absentee ballots, polling places, poll workers, and provisional ballots. The survey data is used 

by election officials, academics, and others to improve their methods, metrics, and tactics in serving 

voters and maintaining voter registration lists. EAVS falls under the President’s Management 

Agenda goal to leverage data as a strategic asset. The data collected in EAVS provides a unique 

perspective in election administration that can drive program decision making within the agency. 

The EAC looks forward to using data to enhance program areas that can produce more resources for 

election officials and voters. Currently, the EAC has limited resources to further synthesize the data 

and to provide more meaningful reports.

Much of the data collected through EAVS is congressionally mandated. The EAC uses the survey 

to help inform Congress on the impact of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) on the 

administration of elections for federal offices, and on the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens 

Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). The EAC also uses the survey data to develop reference guidance 

for state election officials.

3. Monitoring and Providing Technical Assistance on Federal Grant Funds

Under HAVA, the EAC is responsible for awarding, monitoring, and providing technical assistance 

to states on the administration and use of grant funds. EAC staff members monitor the use of 

the funds by the states through progress and financial reports. The EAC further modernized and 

transitioned from the HHS’ GrantSolutions shared services grant system in FY 2023 to an Appian 

based grant system, with full deployment expected in FY 2024. The system provides end-toend grant lifecycle processes and enhanced efficiencies. Additionally, the system allows for risk 

assessment, performance measurement, data collection, analysis, and drives decisions for federal 

grantmaking. With more capabilities expected than previous grant management systems, EAC 

data analysis is further streamlined for the annual grants expenditure report to Congress, OMB 

expenditure updates, and the agency annual report. The EAC expects these data enhancements to 

fully onboard in FY 2024 and continue to broaden future capabilities.
34 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

For 2025, the EAC’s work to monitor and provide technical assistance to grantees will continue, 

including expenditure oversight. The EAC expects the recent onboarding of a more modern grant 

system to allow the Grant Officers more time for grantee training, development, and other technical 

assistance activities. Grant Office staff members routinely provide technical assistance to the states as 

they design and implement their plans for federal funds.

The EAC’s OIG conducts annual audits on selected grantees. The EAC’s Inspector General audits the 

states’ grant activities, with the assistance and participation of EAC Grant Officers.

T H E F Y 2 0 2 5 R E Q U E S T 

For FY 2025, the EAC requests funds to continually meet its congressional mandate to serve as the 

national clearinghouse of election administration information by doing the following: 

• Analyze EAVS data and conduct additional research on cyber security programs and other areas 

of election administration that will assist with decision making on the state and federal level. 

• Produce and publish best practice resources such as videos, educational tools, blogs, and white 

papers on topics including developing and maintaining complex online registration databases, set 

up and use of accessible voting equipment, registering to vote, training and managing poll workers, 

and cybersecurity.

• Provide regular staff-level contact with election officials to collect and share information.

• Conduct forums, town halls, webinars, and hearings to gather information about potential best 

practices and information pertinent to election administration by bringing together election 

officials, federal partners, and subject matter experts in the elections field.

• Explore and study how states are using congressionally appropriated HAVA funds.

• Continue statutorily mandated HAVA studies.

• Provide post-award administration and oversight for existing HAVA grants – 101, 251 Election 

Security, and the FY 2023 College Program Grants.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 35

Strategic Goal 3

Create operational excellence throughout agency management and programming.

Staff from the Office of the General Counsel, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Human 

Resources and Administration, Finance, Testing and Certification, Grants, Clearinghouse, 

Communications, and Research Divisions collaborate toward the success of goal three. 

Objectives and success indicators for the goal are as follows:

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the goal are to increase customer service to key stakeholders and partners, update 

internal structures and policies to optimize performance, develop and continue to manage internal 

structures and tools that produce a culture of innovation and a driven workforce, and continue to 

build a skilled, diverse, and effective workforce. 

SUCCESS INDICATORS

The anticipated success indicators of the goal are the existence of interagency programs that provide 

unique value or generate efficiencies; continuing compliance with federal regulations and mandates; 

and internal strategic planning capacity development at the division and programmatic levels. 

The EAC is dedicated to functioning as a modern, strategic agency supported by qualified, innovative 

professionals who help the agency achieve its mission in an efficient and impactful manner. Through 

strategic goal three, the agency reaffirms its dedication to being good stewards of public funds, 

contributing positively to the federal government, and continuing to build and operate an agency 

that is diverse and impactful. The agency has been historically underfunded. In recent years, the 

agency has received incremental funding allowing for the improvement of its operational structure. 

The EAC aims to create operational excellence by increasing customer service to key stakeholders, 

updating internal structures and policies to optimize performance, maximizing minimal resources, 

and building a skilled, diverse, and effective workforce.

1. Advancing Agency Management and Performance

The EAC aims to do its part to further the administration’s FY 2025 priority of advancing agency 

management and performance by procuring consulting services to assist with performance 

management and the potential development of measurable performance metrics. 

Performance management is measuring employee performance as well as managing performance. 

This is a complex task that focuses on three goals: (1) the efficiency of the manager-employee 

relationships; (2) if performance goals are being achieved, and (3) employee engagement and 

satisfaction. As the EAC continues to grow, maintaining a quality management and performance 

curriculum will be critical in the next few years for EAC leadership and staff. Therefore, it is 

important to dedicate the resources needed to advance management and performance by procuring 

consulting services. 
36 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

The measures of performance management effectiveness include addressing mediocre performance; 

utilizing HR metrics to evaluate the cost to hire for budgeting purposes and highlight issues with 

management; and acting on annual employee survey results to improve employee satisfaction. This 

will help EAC evaluate the current situation, identify areas necessary to focus on to improve the 

agency’s performance, and develop an adequate strategy to reach those goals. Again, leadership 

training and performance management guidance to the agency remains critical in the short term and 

the EAC has included in its FY 2025 budget request funding for these investments.

2. Advancing Equity

The agency hired dedicated staff tasked with advising, representing, and assisting the EAC’s 

Executive Director on civil rights and equal opportunity matters that ensure:

• The elimination of barriers that prevent individuals from realizing their full potential.

• The promotion of equal employment opportunities in the recruitment, hiring, development, and 

retention of a highly skilled, diverse, and effective workforce.

• Equal access and compliance with internal civil rights programs and services affecting EAC 

employees and applicants for employment.

• Equal access and compliance with external civil rights programs and services relating to the 

beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries of Help America Vote Act (HAVA) programs receiving 

federal financial assistance through EAC.

3. Cyber Access and Security Program (CAS)

The EAC will continue to build on its Cyber Access and Security (CAS) Program, providing 

cybersecurity support both to internal EAC operations and external customers. FISMA 

documentation and compliance functions as well as technical cybersecurity expertise are provided by 

the program in support of the EAC’s IT operations. Additionally, the EAC will continue to bolster its 

cyber defenses to achieve full zero-trust capability. Externally, the program provides training, best 

practices, and other materials to assist election officials, voters, and others improve the cybersecurity 

posture of their systems, practices, and procedures. The program works with other federal partners 

through the Government Coordinating Council to ensure its products are focused and relevant and 

do not duplicate the efforts of other agencies.
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 37

T H E F Y 2 0 2 5 R E Q U E S T 

For FY 2025, the EAC requests funds to create operational excellence throughout agency 

management and programming by doing the following: 

• Procuring services to implement performance management assistance including the 

development of performance metrics.

• Provide leadership training and performance management guidance to agency staff.

• Hire dedicated staff to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in EAC agency 

operations.

• Utilize dedicated staff to advise on compliance with external civil rights programs and services 

related to the agency mission.

• Expand the Cyber Access and Security Program to support internal operations including 

compliance and training, and to advance the EAC to full zero-trust capability.
ATTACHMENT A

Office of Inspector General
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 39

BACKGROUND

The EAC Office of Inspector General (OIG) was established by Section 812 of Help America Vote 

Act of 2002 (HAVA) and the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, to provide independent 

and objective reporting to the EAC and Congress through its audit and investigative activities. 

Charged with the identification and prevention of waste, fraud, and abuse of federal resources, OIG 

strives to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in EAC programs and operations. OIG’s 

mission is to safeguard the federal investment in our electoral system by conducting objective and 

meaningful oversight.

THE BUDGET IN SUMMARY

OIG’s fiscal year (FY) 2025 request of $2,324,429 includes $9,088 as a transfer to the Council 

of Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) in keeping with the provisions of the 

Inspector General Reform Act of 2008. Starting in FY 2025, the budget request for the Office 

of Inspector General is set aside in the proposed appropriations language as funds reserved for 

OIG activities. The request also includes $53,469 for travel, training, and oversight. That amount 

includes $33,469 for costs associated with training and professional development for OIG’s full-time 

employees and $20,000 for travel related to fraud awareness briefings and audit site visits. 

OIG BUDGET REQUEST BY OBJECT CLASS

(Dollars in Thousands)

FY 2023 

Enacted

FY 2024 

Enacted

FY 2024 

President’s 

Budget

FY 2025

Request

Full-Time Equivalent 4 6 6 6

Salaries and Benefits 

11.1 Full-time permanent 564 728 722 758

11.9 Civilian personnel benefits 213 312 309 325

Total Compensation and Benefits 777 1,040 1,031 1,083

Contractual Services and Supplies

21 Travel, training, and oversight 21 21 32 53

24 Printing and reproduction - 2 - -

25.2 Other services 1,056 1,048 1,135 1,013

25.3 Other purchases of goods and services 

from Government accounts

56 90 63 161

26 Supplies and materials 2 2 3 3

Acquisition of Assets

31 Equipment 2 2 2 2

94 Financial Transfers 7 7 7 9

Total Program 1,921 2,212 2,272 2,324
40 U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

OIG STRUCTURE 

OIG is currently staffed by six full-time employees: the Inspector General, the Deputy Inspector 

General (also head of audit), Chief Counsel (also head of operations and investigations), a senior 

auditor, and two program analysts. OIG is not requesting any additional staff. 

OIG will continue to rely on interagency agreements with other OIGs for investigative services. 

OIG’s FY 2025 request for investigative services is $150,000. OIG maintains $10,000 for editorial 

services through an interagency agreement as OIG is responsible for publishing results of our work 

and other mandated reports. 

OIG GOALS 

As established and detailed in OIG’s strategic plan, we strive to operate as a high-performing 

organization and help EAC be as efficient and effective as it can be. The plan sets forth three 

strategic goals: 

1. Assess and improve OIG processes.

2. Increase performance and value-add oversight. 

3. Foster stakeholder collaboration and encourage transparency.

OIG ACTIVITIES

OIG primarily engages in three activities: 1) audits of EAC’s grant recipients, 2) audits of EAC’s 

programs and operations, and 3) investigations related to EAC’s staff, operations, or grant recipients.

Oversight of EAC Grant Recipients (States and Territories)

From 2018 to 2020, EAC awarded $805 million in federal funds to the 50 states, the District of 

Columbia, and five U.S. territories (American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana 

Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands). In 2022 and 2023, EAC received $75 million in grant 

funds to distribute to all 56 states and territories for election security. 

As described in the FY 2024 request, OIG will continue to conduct state audits through contracted 

audit services and internally when there are issues of recipient noncompliance with federal reporting 

requirements. Doing grant audits with internal staff for high-risk recipients allows us to forgo the 

contracting process, complete the work faster, and find waste or questioned costs earlier. 

Recent oversight reports from state auditors and the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee 

indicate data gaps and increased fraud at the local level. The FY 2025 request includes $20,000 

for fraud awareness briefings and associated travel. These briefings will allow OIG to educate grant 

recipients at the state and local level on how to recognize fraud, waste, and abuse and how to submit 

a complaint to OIG. When possible, we will combine audit site visits with fraud awareness briefings. 

FY 2025 Priority: OIG will continue to conduct grant audits, internally conduct audits of high-risk 

recipients, and complement audits with educational assistance to help states be more responsible 

recipients of federal election funds. 
FISCAL YEAR 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 41

Audits of EAC Programs and Operations

OIG is also responsible for conducting reviews and audits of EAC’s internal policies, procedures, and 

programs. OIG contracts with independent public accounting firms to perform statutorily mandated 

audits ensuring EAC’s compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) 

and the annual audit of the EAC’s financial statements. 

In FY 2022, EAC OIG began conducting audits of EAC programs with its own staff. In FY 2023, 

OIG issued an audit of EAC’s Testing and Certification program, three management advisories, 

and a HAVA audit that resulted in more than 50% of audited costs being questioned and five 

recommendations. OIG also conducted the mandatory review of EAC’s compliance with the 

Procurement Integrity and Information Act (PIIA).

In FY 2023, the OIG issued a Manual for Conducting Evaluations, Reviews, and Inspections. 

Establishing these procedures will allow OIG to conduct more agile and timely work aligned with 

CIGIE’s Quality Standards for Inspections and Evaluations. In FY 2024, we intend to pilot using 

impact evaluations to better understand how EAC funds are being spent at the local level. These 

products can provide timely information for decision makers and stakeholders. 

FY 2025 Priority: OIG will meet statutorily mandated audit requirements, conduct audits internally 

on EAC programs, and improve capacity to conduct evaluations.

Investigations

When allegations are made concerning waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in EAC programs 

or involving a recipient of EAC funds, OIG is responsible for investigating those allegations. OIG 

receives complaints from a hotline voicemail, form submissions from our website, and direct 

email complaints. 

During the first half of FY 2023, we processed 374 unique OIG hotline complaints. Complaints 

related to election crimes such as voter fraud are referred to the Department of Justice Public 

Integrity Section. OIG refers complainants to the appropriate state election officials when the issue 

relates to registering to vote or state election administration. OIG’s most recent semiannual report 

to Congress includes a breakdown of the disposition of complaints received. In FY 2023, OIG 

finished configuration for an investigative software and new hotline portal to further automize the 

complaint process and increase the ability to transparently report hotline complaint trends. 

When an allegation requires further investigation, OIG has an interagency agreement for 

investigative services. OIG also uses the agreement to consult with investigators on potential 

suspension and debarment, subpoenas, and other related actions.

FY 2025 Priority: OIG will continue to use interagency agreements for investigative services and 

to bolster investigation hotline capacity for efficiency and transparency. OIG’s attorney will oversee 

these functions.