Election Assistance Commission - Ongoing Controversy

     The Election Assistance Commission is in the midst of a swirling controversy following its report about the amount of voter fraud that can occur even after the implementation of stricter guidelines. Complaints allege that the EAC ignored much of the evidence presented to it by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a subcommittee chartered with the responsibility of researching voting technology. In its final report to the EAC, the NIST stated that there was no controversy and almost a unanimous belief that voting fraud using the new technologies would be inconsequential. The EAC then presented opposite findings in their final report to Congress. 

     Congress enacted the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to help solve the infamous problems at polls during the last presidential election. The EAC is supposedto find good voting technologies, but also to distribute federal funds for states to who meet and implement the higher standards that the EAC establishes. Section 401 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, only allows the Attorney General of the United States to bring action of declaratory or injunctive relief against voting methods that are discriminatory or fail to meet the requirements of the rules enacted by the EAC. While Section 402 provides for the establishment of state-based administrative complain procedures to remedy grievances by individuals. But since the state is often going to be the violator, placing investigations in the violator’s hands, it is unlikely that the act will have adequate enforcement either individually or federally. 

     The issue regarding voter fraud seems to be evenly split between party lines – Republicans argue that Democrats are ignoring a large problem, while Democrats insist that Republicans are exaggerating the facts in order to pursue voter identification laws. Even if political pressures influenced the final draft of the report by the EAC, it will have little impact on voting because of the limiting scope of its enforcement. The decisions made by the EAC are “voluntary” meaning that Congress still must determine whether to adopt their opinion and implement it through all of the states. It is still unclear how or if a biased voting plan could affect the elections in November 2008.

-D.S.