Election Reform: The Help America Vote Act and Issues for Congress







Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress



In November 2000, the nation faced the unusual circumstance of not knowing the winner of the
election for President for several weeks. The public scrutiny resulting from that experience
exposed a wide range of weaknesses with the American system of elections. Many of the
weaknesses had been known for years by election administrators, but they had been unsuccessful
at drawing sufficient attention to them to effect the needed changes. In October 2002, Congress
enacted the Help America Vote Act (HAVA, P.L. 107-252), which addressed many of those
weaknesses. It created a new federal agency, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), with
election administration responsibilities. It set requirements for voting and voter-registration
systems and certain other aspects of election administration, and it provided federal funding; but
it did not supplant state and local control over election administration.
The establishment of the EAC was delayed for several months beyond the statutory deadline, and
it was initially funded at a fraction of the authorized level. As a result, many of the tasks assigned
to it by HAVA were also delayed, although the agency has since been more successful at fulfilling
its statutory tasks. HAVA established several grant and payment programs for various purposes,
and Congress has appropriated more than $3 billion altogether for them. It is uncertain if current
levels of funding are sufficient to meet HAVA goals and requirements.
One of the innovations in HAVA is the establishment, for the first time, of federal requirements
for several aspects of election administration: voting systems, provisional ballots, voter
information, voter registration, and identification for certain voters. Those requirements are now
in effect. Many states have changed voting systems to meet them. Controversy has arisen over the
reliability and security of electronic voting, leading many states to adopt requirements for paper
ballots. The provisional ballot requirement was one of four that went into effect in 2004, and it
was also somewhat controversial. There is also still some question about implementation of
computerized statewide voter-registration lists in some states.
In addition to funding, issues for the 110th Congress include voter-verifiable paper audit trails and
possibly photo identification, poll worker training, and prohibiting deceptive practices. Despite
considerable effort by Congress to alleviate difficulties for military and overseas voters, there
remain a number of hurdles to participation. Congress may consider several options for easing
them. Other issues that might be considered are associated with voting systems standards, remote
voting (absentee, early, and Internet), election personnel, polling places, election security, and the
electoral college.






Election Assistance Commission.....................................................................................................2
Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Payments to States...........................................................................................................................3
Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 3
HAVA 2004 Requirements...............................................................................................................3
Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 4
HAVA 2006 Requirements...............................................................................................................5
Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Military and Overseas Voters..........................................................................................................7
Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 7
Voting System Standards.................................................................................................................7
Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Absentee Ballots..............................................................................................................................8
Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 9
Early Voting.....................................................................................................................................9
Issues ......................................................................................................................................... 9
Internet Voting...............................................................................................................................10
Issues ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Election Personnel.........................................................................................................................10
Issues ........................................................................................................................................ 11
The Polling Place............................................................................................................................11
Issues ....................................................................................................................................... 12
Election Security...........................................................................................................................12
Issues ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Electoral College...........................................................................................................................13
Issues ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Author Contact Information..........................................................................................................14





n November 2000, the nation faced the unusual circumstance of not knowing the winner of
the election for President for several weeks. The results in Florida were contested, and the 1
contest did not end until a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The public scrutiny resulting I


from that experience exposed a wide range of weaknesses with the American system of elections.
Among them were poorly designed and outdated voting technology; inefficient and poorly
administered registration systems; insufficient professionalism in the election workforce,
especially pollworkers; problems with absentee voting; a confusing array of administrative
procedures across jurisdictions; inadequate funding; problems with the processes for conducting
election audits and recounts; and suspicions among many of alarming levels of voter fraud and
intimidation. Although many jurisdictions suffered from few, if any, of these problems, they were
sufficiently prevalent to cause widespread concern after the realization that they could, at least in
some circumstances, have a significant impact on major elections. Many of the weaknesses had
been known for years by election administrators, but they had been unsuccessful at drawing
sufficient attention to them to effect the needed improvements.
The situation began changing when several commissions and studies examined what had 2
happened in Florida and made recommendations. Both the House and the Senate held several th
hearings during the first session of the 107 Congress. Some states made plans or began to
replace voting equipment and adopt other improvements. In December 2001, the House passed
H.R. 3295, the Help America Vote Act. In early 2002, the Senate debated and passed S. 565, the 3
Martin Luther King, Jr. Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act, after adopting 40 amendments.
After conference negotiations, a compromise bill, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA,
P.L. 107-252) was enacted in October. The act created a new federal agency with election
administration responsibilities, set requirements for voting and voter-registration systems and
certain other aspects of election administration, and provided federal funding; but it did not
supplant state and local control over election administration.
Issues for the 108th Congress included funding, establishment of the new agency, and th
implementation by and impacts on the states. Issues for the 109 Congress included problems

1 Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000).
2 Major reports included the following: Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, Voting: What Is, What Could Be, July
2001, a privately funded joint effort of the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology involving faculty and staff from both institutions; The Constitution Project, Forum on Election Reform,
Building Consensus on Election Reform, August 2001, from a broad-based group of organizations and experts under
the auspices of a nonprofit organization focusing on legal and constitutional issues; Governors Select Task Force on
Election Procedures, Standards and Technology, Revitalizing Democracy in Florida, March 2001, a study
commissioned by Florida Governor Jeb Bush; National Association of Secretaries of State, Election Reform Resolution,
6 February 2001, and Resolution on Election Reform Policies & Federal Government, 17 July 2001, from a
professional association of state secretaries of state; National Association of State Election Directors, Federal Election
Recommendations, 15 August 2001, from a professional association of state election directors; National Commission
on Election Standards & Reform, Report and Recommendations to Improve America’s Election System, May 2001,
from the National Association of Counties, an organization representing county governments, and the National
Association of County Recorders, Election Officials, and Clerks, a professional organization of county administrative
officials; The National Commission on Federal Election Reform, To Assure Pride and Confidence in the Electoral
Process, August 2001, from an independent, privately funded commission cochaired by Presidents Ford and Carter;
National Conference of State Legislatures, Elections Reform Task Force, Voting in America, August 2001, from an
organization serving state lawmakers; National Task Force on Election Reform, Election 2000: Review and
Recommendations by the Nation’s Elections Administrators, August 2001, from a nonprofit organization of election
administrators.
3 For a side-by-side comparison of provisions in those two versions, see CRS Report RL31417, Election Reform
Legislation: Comparison of House and Senate Versions of H.R. 3295, by Eric A. Fischer.



identified pursuant to the November 2004 Presidential election, as well as implementation by
states of HAVA requirements, response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the security of voting 4th
systems. In addition to funding, issues for the 110 Congress have included those that arose in
the 2006 election, as well as voter-verified paper audit trail requirements for electronic voting
machines, photo identification, poll worker training, and prohibiting deceptive practices. Despite
considerable effort by Congress to alleviate difficulties for military and overseas voters, there
remain a number of hurdles to participation. Congress may consider several options for easing thth
them. Other issues that might be considered in the 110 or 111 Congress are associated with
voting systems standards, remote voting (absentee, early, and Internet), election personnel,
polling places, election security, and the electoral college.
This report discusses how HAVA addresses those and other issues, and their potential legislative
implications.

HAVA established a new federal agency, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC,
http://www.eac.gov), to replace the Office of Election Administration (OEA) of the Federal
Election Commission (FEC) and also to perform new functions. The EAC is an independent,
bipartisan federal agency. HAVA authorized funding for it only through FY2005, but the agency 5
has continued to be funded at or above authorized levels. Members are appointed to four-year
terms and may be reappointed once. The act also established two boards, with broad-based state
and local membership, and a technical committee, to address aspects of voting system standards
and certification. The main duties of the EAC include carrying out grant programs, providing for
testing and certification of voting systems, studying election issues, and issuing voluntary
guidelines for voting systems and the requirements in the act. The commission does not have any
new rule-making authority and does not enforce HAVA requirements. The law provides for
technical support and participation by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST,
see http://vote.nist.gov) in relevant commission activities, including the technical committee.
The initial establishment of the EAC was delayed for more than nine months beyond the statutory
deadline of February 25, 2003, and funding for the commission for FY2004 was less than one-
fifth the authorized level of $10 million. As a result, the commissioners did not hold their first
public meeting until March 2004 and the EAC was significantly limited in its ability to provide
assistance to states in preparation for the November 2004 election. It also had to delay beginning
many of the tasks assigned to it by HAVA. It has subsequently, however, been staffed more fully
and has engaged in major activities under its HAVA mandate. Among them are a recommended 6
set of best practices for local election administrators released in August 2004, release of the

4 In addition, a new national commission was formed, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary
of State James Baker, with a report planned for fall 2005 (see http://www.american.edu/ia/cfer/). The Election Center
also created a new task force and released its report in May 2005 (National Task Force on Election Reform, Election
2004: Review and Recommendations by the Nation’s Election Administrators, The Election Center, May 2005,
available at http://www.electioncenter.org/documents/Task%20Force%20Final%20PDF.pdf.
5 For funding details, see RS20898, Elections Reform: Overview and Issues, by Kevin J. Coleman and Eric A. Fischer.
6 Election Assistance Commission, “Best Practices in Administration, Management and Security in Voting Systems and
(continued...)





federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines in December 20057 with a revision in review in 2008,
and completion of the distribution of payments to states (see below).

HAVA established several grant programs for various purposes.8 Payments to states authorized by
HAVA included $650 million under Title I to improve election administration and to replace
punchcard and lever-machine voting systems and $3 billion over three years under Title II to meet
requirements established by the act (see below). The first program was fully funded and all
payments have been made. The second was funded at close to the $2.4 billion authorized through
FY2004, but no additional funding was appropriated since then until FY2008, when Congress
provided an additional $115 million. Other programs provide funding through the Department of
Health and Human Services to make polling places accessible to persons with disabilities, and for
state protection and advocacy systems to ensure electoral participation by persons with
disabilities. HAVA also provided $20 million in grants for research and $10 million for pilot
programs to improve voting technology, although neither of those programs have been
specifically funded. Three small programs to encourage student participation in the voting and
election process were established by the act, and they have received some funding.
The remaining authorization for payments to help states meet the HAVA requirements may
continue to be an issue, especially given the concerns of election officials about HAVA’s impact 9
on the costs of elections. Whether the levels of payments provided to states are sufficient to fund
HAVA requirements is uncertain. Also contributing to this funding uncertainty is the continuing
controversy over the security and reliability of the electronic voting systems promoted by HAVA’s
accessibility requirements (see below). Funding for all major programs was authorized by HAVA
only through FY2005; however, Congress has continued to provide funding in subsequent fiscal
years.

One of the innovations in HAVA is the establishment, for the first time, of federal requirements
for several aspects of election administration: voting systems, provisional ballots, voter
information, voter registration, and identification for certain voters. Most of those requirements 10
went into effect in January 2006. However, four went into effect earlier: (1) Any voter not listed

(...continued)
Provisional Voting: A Tool Kit for Election Administrators and Stakeholders, August 9, 2004 http://www.eac.gov/bp.
7 See CRS Report RL33146, Federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines: Summary and Analysis of Issues, by Eric A.
Fischer.
8 For more detail, see CRS Report RS20898, Elections Reform: Overview and Issues, by Kevin J. Coleman and Eric A.
Fischer.
9 See, for example, CRS Report RL34363, Election Reform and Local Election Officials: Results of Two National
Surveys, by Eric A. Fischer.
10 A fifth requirement, for statewide computerized voter registration lists, also went into effect in 2004, but most states
(continued...)





as registered must be offered and permitted to cast a provisional ballot. This is a separate ballot
that is set aside along with relevant information about the voter so that election officials can
determine whether the person is entitled to vote. (2) Any ballots cast during a court-ordered
extension of polling hours must be provisional. (3) A sample ballot and other voter information
must be posted at the polling place on election day. (4) First-time voters who register by mail
must provide specified identification either when submitting their registration or when voting.
Also, the seven states that received title I payments to replace lever machines or punchcard voting
systems and did not request a waiver were required to replace all those systems statewide in time
for the November 2004 federal election.
The provisional ballot requirement has been somewhat controversial, although broader use of
such ballots was called for by all the major reports stemming from the 2000 election controversy
(see above) and was included in both the original House- and Senate-passed versions of HAVA.
States vary in how this requirement is implemented, and some of those interpretations have been 11
subject to litigation. In some states a ballot is counted at least for some contests even if cast 12
outside the voter’s home precinct. In other states, provisional ballots are counted only if they are 13
cast in the home precinct. If the policy governing provisional ballots is unclear to voters or
pollworkers in a jurisdiction, a voter might be unintentionally disenfranchised, for example by
inadvertently voting in the wrong precinct. Provisional ballots may be especially at issue in some
close contests, where the outcome may not be known until provisional ballots are processed,
which can take several days and may be subject to litigation. Congress could consider modifying
this requirement to clarify its applicability to federal contests for ballots that are cast outside the
home precinct. Also, provisional balloting may become less important as states continue to
implement and gain experience with the statewide computerized registration lists that HAVA
requires (see below).
The voter-identification requirement was the subject of some controversy in the 2002 Senate
debate on HAVA, causing a delay of several weeks in floor action. It does not, however, appear to
have been particularly controversial in implementation so far. However, many states have broader 14
identification requirements, and some of those have been controversial. Some questions have
been raised about photographic identification requirements in particular. However, the U.S. 15
Supreme Court has ruled that such voter-identification requirements are permissible.

(...continued)
obtained a waiver until 2006.
11 For a detailed discussion of state implementation and issues, see CRS Report RL32653, State Election Laws:
Overview of Statutes Providing for Provisional Ballot Tabulation, by L. Paige Whitaker and Arthur Traldi.
12 This approach can help ensure, for example, that a voter who is detained at work on election day until just before the
polls close can vote at the nearest polling place rather than risk arriving at the home polling place after it has closed. It
may also help a properly registered voter who inadvertently goes to the wrong polling place and is unable to obtain
information from the central election office about where the correct polling place is located, for example because of
busy phone lines.
13 This can help to reduce problems in counting ballots and may also reduce the risk of certain kinds of fraud.
14 See, for example, CRS Report RS22505, Voter Identification and Citizenship Requirements: Overview and Issues, by
Kevin J. Coleman and Eric A. Fischer.
15 See CRS Report RS22882, The Constitutionality of Requiring Photo Identification for Voting: An Analysis of
Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, by L. Paige Whitaker.






Beginning January 1, 2006, voting systems used in federal elections were required to provide for
error correction by voters (either directly or via voter education and instruction), manual auditing
for the voting system, accessibility to disabled persons (at least one fully accessible machine per
polling place) and alternative languages, and needed to meet federal machine error-rate standards.
Systems were also required to maintain voter privacy and ballot confidentiality, and states were
required to adopt uniform standards for what constitutes a vote on each system. While HAVA
does require a paper record that can be used for manual audit of a voting system, it does not
require paper ballots.
Also, states using voter registration needed to employ computerized, statewide voter registration 16
systems that are accurately maintained. The 23 states that received title I payments to replace
lever machines and punchcard systems and that requested a waiver of the 2004 deadline were
required to replace those systems statewide before the first election for federal office in 2006.
Finally, beginning in 2007, all new voting systems purchased with Title II requirements payments
were required to be fully accessible for persons with disabilities.
Many states began changing voting systems well before the HAVA requirements went into effect.
For example, both Maryland and Georgia adopted statewide direct-recording electronic (DRE)
voting systems, which meet the error-correction and accessibility requirements of HAVA and
facilitate meeting the standard for what constitutes a vote. However, a separate controversy has 17
arisen over the reliability and security of DREs, resulting in the adoption of a requirement for
paper ballots in many states. In the case of DREs, paper ballots can be produced parallel to the
electronic ballot and are available for inspection by the voter before the ballot is cast. This
approach is called a voter-verified paper audit trail, or VVPAT. Alternatively, states may adopt a
paper-based optical-scan voting system.
Starting in the 108th Congress, bills have been introduced that would require the use of paper
ballots in federal elections. Whether Congress will enact such a requirement remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, The EAC’s technical committee, in the 2007 draft of the Voluntary Voting System
Guidelines, or VVSG, (discussed below) has proposed that certified voting systems be required to
provide a means of auditing the vote that is independent of the software used by the voting 18
system. The proposal is consistent with HAVA’s use of performance rather than design standards
in its voting system provisions (§301(a)). While paper ballots would meet this proposed
requirement, it also permits the development of new systems that could provide levels of
verifiability, security, and accessibility that are not possible with paper ballots. A specific design
standard such as that contained in most of the introduced bills would preclude the use of such

16 This was a 2004 requirement that was extendable to 2006, and most states opted to delay implementation.
17
For in-depth discussion of the issues, see CRS Report RL33190, The Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machine
(DRE) Controversy: FAQs and Misperceptions, by Eric A. Fischer and Kevin J. Coleman, and CRS Report RL32139,
Election Reform and Electronic Voting Systems (DREs): Analysis of Security Issues, by Eric A. Fischer.
18 Available at http://www.eac.gov.





new systems and therefore most likely impede their development. However, such a specific
design standard is arguably easier to implement and enforce than a performance standard.
Some states have had difficulty replacing voting equipment to meet HAVA requirements or to 19
meet the conditions of title I HAVA payments they received to replace equipment. Problems
may also arise in other states that are changing voting systems, given the logistical complexities 20
of the changeover in some cases.
Most states waived the 2004 HAVA deadline for developing computerized statewide voter-
registration lists and were therefore required to implement the new systems by January 2006. At
least 11 states missed that deadline, although most claimed that they would be compliant before 21
the first election of 2006. In addition, the absence of a clear national standard for the lists has 22
led to uncertainties about implementation. Given the increase in new-voter registration in recent
elections and recent closely contested presidential elections, some other issues have also arisen.
Among them are questions about the validity of new registrations, concerns about various kinds
of fraud and abuse, and the impacts of attempts to challenge the validity of voters’ registrations at
polling places.
Making informed decisions about the above and other issues depends in part on the availability of
accurate and comparable information from jurisdictions. However, state and local jurisdictions
vary in what data they collect and make publicly available. While the EAC is responsible under
HAVA for performing research on various aspects of election administration, it has no authority to
ensure that the necessary data are provided by jurisdictions. If those data prove difficult for the
EAC to obtain, Congress might wish to consider providing the agency with the authority needed 23
to acquire them. For FY2008, Congress provided the EAC with $10 million for grants to states
to improve data collection.

19 The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of New York in early 2006 for failing to meet two HAVA
requirements: provision of at least one fully accessible voting machine per polling place, and a computerized statewide
voter-registration list (Department of Justice, “Justice Department Sues New York State Over Voting Rights,” Press
Release, March 1, 2006, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/March/06_crt_108.html). New York also received title I
payments to replace lever machines. The EAC has issued an advisory in which it “concludes that lever voting systems
have significant barriers which make compliance with Section 301(a) [of HAVA] difficult and unlikely (Election
Assistance Commission, “EAC Advisory 2005-005: Lever Voting Machines and HAVA Section 301(a),” September 8,
2005, http://www.eac.gov/docs/EAC%20Advisory%2005-005.pdf). That raises questions about the compliance with
HAVA requirements in those few states where lever machines are still in use. The states affected by hurricanes Katrina
and Rita also struggled with meeting HAVA requirements.
20 For example, problems with new voting equipment and pollworker training led to significant delays in reporting the
results of the March 2006 primary in the Chicago area (see, for example, John McCormick, “Voting-machine maker on
defense, Chicago Tribune, April 27, 2006, p. 10).
21 National Association of Secretaries of State, “NASS Survey Summary: The States and HAVAs Deadlines,
December 21, 2005.
22 See, for example, Justin Levitt, Wendy R. Weiser, and Ana Muñoz,Making the List: Database Matching and
Verification Processes for Voter Registration,” Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law,
March 2006, http://www.brennancenter.org/dynamic/subpages/download_file_35559.pdf; electionline.org, Assorted
Rolls: Statewide Voter Registration Databases Under HAVA, June 2005, available at http://www.electionline.org.
23 The EAC began performing an election-day survey of election jurisdictions with the 2004 election. The resulting
reports are informative but illustrate the kinds of problems arising from a lack of uniform reporting (the reports are
available at http://www.eac.gov.






After the 2000 election, both the Defense Authorization Act of 2002 and HAVA amended the
Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA) to improve the voting
process for members of the military, their family members, and Americans living overseas. Just
before the November 2004 election, the President signed the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (P.L. 108-375), which included provisions to ease the use
of the federal write-in ballot, a substitute under certain conditions for the states’ regular absentee 24
ballots.
Despite considerable effort by Congress to alleviate difficulties for military and overseas voters,
there remain a number of hurdles to participation. The most prominent are timing and the reliance
on military and overseas mail to receive and return registration and ballot applications and the
ballots themselves. Some states permit returning voting materials by fax, but privacy concerns
have been raised about this option. The Defense Authorization Act for 2005 expanded the use of
the federal write-in ballot to those in the military who were not deployed abroad but were away
from their voting jurisdiction because they are on active duty. Nonetheless, delays in printing
absentee ballots because of late-occurring primaries, delays in sending out ballots from the states,
and delays with the mail reportedly continued with primary and general elections in 2004.
Problems continued in the 2006 elections as the EAC reported that only 33% of ballots requested
by military and overseas voters were counted in the election, with 70% having been returned to 25
election officials as undeliverable.
There are few options to fix timing problems, but Congress could consider requiring an
information campaign well in advance of the election to alleviate the glut of registration and
ballot applications that typically arrive within two months of election day. Improvement in this
area might be expected following the October 2007 launch of the Overseas Vote Foundation’s 26
website to assist UOCAVA voters with registration and ballot requests. And while each state was
required to designate a single office to administer the law, an additional requirement for a hotline
telephone number in each state could ease difficulties for individual voters. The Federal Voting
Assistance Program provides both domestic and overseas toll-free numbers. Expanded use of the
federal blank ballot without restrictions could eliminate the problem of waiting for the state
absentee ballot, but would limit voting to federal offices only unless a state decided otherwise.

In addition to voting system requirements, HAVA required the EAC to develop the Voluntary
Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) to replace the Voluntary Voting Systems Standards (VSS)

24 See CRS Report RS20764, The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act: Background and Issues,
coordinated by Kevin J. Coleman.
25 The EAC report may be found at http://www.eac.gov/clearinghouse/
completed-research-and-reports/uniformed-and-overseas-citizen-absentee-voting-act-studies.
26 The OVF website may be found at https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/.





developed under the auspices of the FEC and first issued in 1990.27 They apply to both computer
hardware and software and have been adopted in whole or in part by most states. An updated
version of the VSS was released in 2002. The EAC released the first version of the VVSG in 28
December 2005. Developed in cooperation with NIST, those guidelines are only a partial
revision of the VSS, with new or revised sections on security, human factors, conformance, and
certain testing procedures. They went into effect in December 2007. A more thorough revision is 29
in progress.
A voluntary certification program for voting systems was also developed by the National
Association of State Election Directors (NASED) to verify conformance with the VSS. HAVA
gives responsibility for establishing testing and certification procedures to the EAC, with NIST 30
playing an advisory role and developing a laboratory accreditation program. The EAC has
accredited some laboratories for testing and certification of voting systems under the VVSG.
HAVA does not authorize specific funding for NIST support activities, but Congress has provided
appropriations for those activities as part of the EAC funding.
The delays and funding uncertainties experienced by the EAC were apparently a factor in the
decision to revise only parts of the VSS for the first version of the VVSG. While HAVA stipulated
that the most recent version of the VSS, last revised in 2002, would serve as the guidelines until
the VVSG went into effect, the VSS have been widely criticized with respect to their scope,
approach, and effectiveness. For example, the DREs for which significant security weaknesses 31
have been identified had been certified as conforming to the VSS. The VVSG have been
criticized on the one hand as placing an undue burden on manufacturers to comply with the two-
year implementation window, and on the other as being insufficiently comprehensive, revising
only part of the VSS. The provisions in the 2007 revision of the VVSG relating to security
concerns about DREs, and its extensive revision to conform more closely to international
standards and address other concerns with the earlier version, have also generated some
controversy. In addition, there have been calls for increased openness and other changes to the
certification process.

No federal standards exist with respect to absentee ballots, although the EAC is required to
conduct a study of absentee voting under HAVA. Voters in many states can request an absentee

27 See CRS Report RS21156, Federal Voting Systems Standards and Guidelines: Congressional Deliberations, by Eric
A. Fischer; CRS Report RL33146, Federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines: Summary and Analysis of Issues, by
Eric A. Fischer; and CRS Report RS22363, Federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines: Issues, by Eric A. Fischer.
28 The VVSG are available at http://www.eac.gov.
29 For more information, see the NIST HAVA website at http://vote.nist.gov.
30 Jeffrey Horlick, Voting System Testing, NIST Handbook 150-22, December 2005, http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/210/
214/docs/NIST-HB-150-22-2005.pdf.
31 See CRS Report RL32139, Election Reform and Electronic Voting Systems (DREs): Analysis of Security Issues, by
Eric A. Fischer, and CRS Report RL32526, Electronic Voting Systems (DREs): Legislation in the 108th Congress, by
Eric A. Fischer and Kevin J. Coleman.





ballot only for specific reasons that would prevent the voter from casting a ballot in person. But
according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 26 states in 2004 allowed
any voter to request such a ballot, sometimes called “no fault” absentee voting. Oregon conducts
its elections entirely by mail—all registered voters receive their ballots through the Postal
Service. While the percentage of votes cast by absentee or mail ballot has been increasing in
recent elections, some observers have expressed concerns that the method is more vulnerable to
certain kinds of fraud and coercion of voters than is balloting at the polling place. Absentee
ballots are perhaps the classic example of the legacy of state-by-state election administration.
Eligibility, types of ballots used, deadlines for submission, and counting procedures and deadlines
vary widely by state, and no uniform approach exists with any single element of absentee voting.
Absentee voting is on the increase and some voters reportedly cast absentee ballots in 2004 to
avoid using a DRE at the polling place to cast a ballot. It is not clear whether Congress will take
any action with respect to absentee ballots, although the House Administration Committee
reported H.R. 281, the Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act of 2007 on April 14, 2008. The bill
establish universal absentee voting by mail in all states and prohibit a state from counting an
absentee ballot unless it matched the ballot envelope signature with the voter’s signature on file.
Other legislative remedies that could be introduced include establishing uniform procedures for
sending out absentee ballots, counting methods, and deadlines.

In some states, voters may cast a ballot in person before election day through an early voting
program. There are many approaches, and the number of states using early voting is growing. 32
According to the NCSL, 23 states had some form of it in 2004, whereas 13 states offered early
voting in 2000. In some states, a voter can cast a ballot at multiple locations in the jurisdiction
before election day, while in other states, the voter must visit the election official’s office to do so.
The days and hours for voting vary as well.
Some observers have criticized early voting as distorting to the electoral process and being open
to certain kinds of fraud and abuse. One disadvantage concerns late-occurring developments or
issues in a campaign about which an early voter might have no knowledge. Also, because early
voting is a form of remote voting, as opposed to casting a ballot at an assigned precinct, a greater
possibility of committing fraud arguably exists. Proponents argue that early voting can increase
turnout and lessen the risk of certain kinds of distortions. The increase in the number of states th
offering early voting suggests that the trend will continue. If the 110 Congress takes up the issue,
it may consider legislation to require all states to establish early voting programs or to require that
voter rolls at polling places indicate which voters have cast ballots before election day.

32 In addition, seven states that do not offer early voting offer no-excuse absentee voting.






A Defense Department program to allow those in the military and their family members abroad to
vote over the Internet was cancelled for 2004 after a report that noted it could be prone to
tampering that might affect the election outcome. The 2004 program was to be an expanded
version of a pilot program in 2000 in which 84 voters cast ballots over the Internet. As many as
100,000 voters might have cast ballots under the program in 2004. Arizona’s Democratic party
conducted a primary in 2000 in which approximately 40% of voters cast ballots over the Internet, 33
although computer problems and access issues emerged after the voting.
While little progress has been made in the development of Internet voting for public elections in
the United States, other countries have begun implementing this method. The most prominent 34
example is Switzerland, which has used Internet voting experimentally for several years. 35
Different cantons use different approaches, with Neuchâtel using an “end-to-end” system that
provides true voter verifiability, which is not possible with paper ballot systems.
Internet voting may continue on a limited basis for certain types of elections in the United States,
such as Arizona’s Democratic primary in 2000, or on an experimental basis, but security concerns
are paramount. Given the emergence of security issues in voting in recent years, particularly those
raised with respect to the use of DREs, enthusiasm for Internet voting has consequently declined
in the United States. Efforts in the Defense Department to facilitate Internet voting are the most
likely prospect for the immediate future.

There are roughly 10,000 election jurisdictions in the United States,36 ranging in size from small
rural jurisdictions with fewer than a thousand voters to large metropolitan jurisdictions with 37
several million. For many jurisdictions, the administration of periodic elections is unlikely to be
considered as high a priority as more regular needs such as schools and roads. Funding and
personnel vary, with some jurisdictions having large, well-funded operations and others very
small efforts with part-time staffing. The demographic profile of local election officials is 38
unusual, especially for a professional group of government employees.

33 See CRS Report RS20639, Internet Voting, by Kevin J. Coleman.
34 LEtat de Geve, “E-Voting, http://www.ge.ch/evoting/english/welcome.asp, n.d.
35 See VVSG, Volume 1, Appendix C; and Scytl, “Secure Electronic Voting, http://www.scytl.com/eng/
pnyx_government_pdf.htm, n.d.
36 The number varies depending on how the count is made. While counties are the local election jurisdiction in most
states, some, especially several states in New England and the Upper Midwest, use townships or other small
jurisdictions. Those states account for about two-thirds of the total number of jurisdictions.
37 For example, in 2000, Petroleum County, Montana, had 443 registered voters and Los Angeles County, California
had 4,075,037 (source: electionline.org).
38 See CRS Report RL34363, Election Reform and Local Election Officials: Results of Two National Surveys, by Eric
A. Fischer.





According to the EAC, a federal election requires a total of about 2 million pollworkers 39
nationwide. Most pollworkers are older citizens, many retired and elderly, although no reliable
demographic information is available on them nationwide. They are usually required to work on
election day from before polls open to well after they close, often a span of 14 hours or more.
They are usually either unpaid or they receive only a small stipend. HAVA established two small
programs to recruit college and high school students to work at the polls but has no other specific
provisions regarding pollworkers.
The level of training and expertise varies substantially among election administrators, and some
observers believe that election administration needs to be more strongly developed as a
profession, with concomitant expectations about expertise, certification, and adherence to 40
professional codes of conduct. The reported age and number of pollworkers is also of concern to
many, especially in elections with high turnout, and given the increased complexity of and role of
technology in elections in the wake of HAVA. Many jurisdictions have apparently expressed 41
concerns that recruiting enough pollworkers has become more difficult. An insufficient
workforce at the polling place, or pollworkers who are insufficiently or improperly trained,
especially if they are using new equipment, may lead to errors that can create problems for voters
or even impact the outcome of an election. HAVA requires states receiving Title II requirements
payments to submit plans to the EAC that describe, among other things, their plans for education
and training of election officials and pollworkers with respect to meeting HAVA requirements. It
does not specify expectations or require EAC guidance for that education and training. Should
Congress decide to address issues relating to election personnel, it could establish a specific
program to fund training of election officials and pollworkers, or it might require the EAC to
establish a program to accredit organizations that create and administer certification programs for
election administrators, as it is required to do for testing laboratories (Sec. 231(b)).

The Help America Vote Act requires posting voting information at each polling place, mandates
disability access to voting in all polling places through the use of at least one voting device that
provides the same privacy and independence as for other voters, and requires voters who have
registered by mail and have not voted in the jurisdiction to provide one of a number of acceptable
forms of identification (see the discussion of these requirements in HAVA 2004 Requirements and
HAVA 2006 Requirements above). Jurisdictions vary in the number and kinds of polling places
used for an election. Some jurisdictions are experimenting with the use of vote centers, where any 42
registered voter in the county can vote, instead of traditional precinct polling places. HAVA
provides grants to improve the accessibility of polling places but does not establish new
requirements.

39 Election Assistance Commission, “U.S. Election Assistance Commission Pushes Poll Worker Initiative,” Media
Advisory, October 21, 2004.
40 Some have also suggested that election officials be officially nonpartisan to avoid the appearance of conflict of
interest, whereas others believe such an approach to be ineffective or unnecessary in many cases.
41 Election Assistance Commission, “Poll Worker Initiative.
42 See Larimer County, Colorado, “Elections,” http://www.co.larimer.co.us/elections/votecenters_tab.htm, for example.





Provisional voting and voter-identification requirements have generated some controversy and
could continue to do so as state legislatures revisit these topics, insofar as HAVA left the specific
details of implementation to the states. With respect to both topics, states could modify voter
identification requirements generally and the procedures for the use of provisional ballots, as 43
some have. Challenging a voter’s eligibility at the polling place emerged as an issue in the 2004
election, although HAVA is silent on this issue and state laws vary considerably with respect to
who may challenge and under what circumstances. In some states, no challenges may be made
except by a poll worker, while in others, partisan workers may be admitted to the polling place to
observe the voting and may challenge a voter’s eligibility.
A related issue concerns proof of citizenship as a condition for registration. A number of bills
have been introduced, but the issue first emerged at the state level when Arizona voters approved 44
a 2004 referendum that required citizenship proof for voting. A number of Latino advocacy
groups mounted a legal challenge to the law on the grounds that it is discriminatory, but a federal 45
judge rejected the request for a temporary restraining order in June 2006.
The number, distribution, and condition of polling places has also sometimes been an issue. It
could potentially be addressed by establishing requirements such as a maximum number of
registered voters or a maximum geographic area covered by a polling place.

The security environment following the terrorist attacks of 2001 raised concerns before the 2004
elections that further attacks or other events might disrupt an election and even affect the 46
outcome. Questions were raised about both postponement of elections and enhancement of
security. The executive branch does not currently have authority to set or change the times of
elections, a power reserved for Congress under the Constitution, although Congress may be able
to delegate such authority. Either Congress or the states might also pass legislation in response to
a terrorist attack that would change the timing of any elections that were affected. Some states
have enacted statutes providing for the temporary postponement of elections. Many state statutes 47
also grant the Governor the power to suspend certain state laws during an emergency. Those
statutes might also be able to be used to postpone the general presidential election in the state
during an emergency. However, actual postponement of elections has occurred in relatively few
cases over the last 150 years.

43 For descriptions of state legislation on this and other election reform issues, see National Council of State
Legislatures, NCSLnet Search: Election Reform Legislation, http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legman/elect/elections.cfm.
44 In the 109th Congress, H.R. 4462 and H.R. 4844 would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (the
motor-voter law) to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. S.Amdt. 4085 would amend the Immigration
Reform Bill of 2006 (S. 2611) to require proof of citizenship to register.
45 Matthew Benson, “Request to halt ID rules rejected,” The Arizona Republic, June 20, 2006.
46 For an overview, see CRS Report RL32654, Safeguarding Federal Elections from Possible Terrorist Attack: Issues
and Options for Congress, by Eric A. Fischer et al..
47 For discussion of state emergency management provisions, see CRS Report RL32287, Emergency Management and
Homeland Security Statutory Authorities in the States, District of Columbia, and Insular Areas: A Summary, by Keith
Bea, L. Cheryl Runyon, and Kae M. Warnock. This report also contains links to reports that profile provisions of each
state.





It is generally the responsibility of state and local governments to provide security at polling
places. A guide for state election-security planning recommends establishment of planning teams 48
and preparation for a range of possible scenarios. Reactions of state and local officials varied for
the November 2004 election, with some making as few visible changes as possible and others
increasing police presence or even moving polling places.
Polling-place security issues were less prominent during the 2006 elections. Whether Congress
considers actions to safeguard future elections may depend on events associated with them or
with elections in other countries. Among the options are to take no legislative action, to explicitly
delegate authority to the executive branch to the extent permitted by the Constitution, to provide
mechanisms for improved coordination, and to encourage early and absentee voting. All these
options have some potential benefits but also significant potential disadvantages.

The President and the Vice President are elected indirectly by the electoral college, according to a
compromise design that balanced equal representation from each of the states against population th
differences. The U.S. Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, as amended by the 12
Amendment, together with a series of implementing federal statutes, provides the broad
framework through which electors are appointed and by which they cast votes for President and 49
Vice President.
Nearly since its inception, the electoral college has engendered calls for reform. Among the
criticisms are the possibility that no candidate achieves a majority of electoral college votes,
resulting in election by the House of Representatives (as occurred in 1824); the election of a
President and Vice President who win a majority in the electoral college, but do not win the
popular vote (as happened in 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000); the assignment of electoral votes, said
to give less populous states an advantage because a state’s vote equals the number of members of
the House of Representatives (based on population) and the Senate (not based on population); and
a perceived advantage for ethnic voters, whereby the concentrations of such voters in large states
are said to benefit because of a tendency to vote as a group for a single candidate, thus increasing
their comparative influence.
In recent years, heightened interest in reforming the electoral college tends to coincide with
closely contested presidential elections wherein the possibility exists that the electoral college
winner does not win the popular vote. Despite the circumstances of the 2000 election, which
focused national attention on the electoral college vote, subsequent reform efforts addressed

48 National Association of Secretaries of State and others, Overview: Election Security Planning for States, September
24, 2004.
49 For a detailed discussion of the electoral college and reform, see CRS Report RL30804, The Electoral College: An
Overview and Analysis of Reform Proposals, by L. Paige Whitaker and Thomas H. Neale, and CRS Report RL32611,
The Electoral College: How It Works in Contemporary Presidential Elections, by Thomas H. Neale.





election administration and voting issues, rather than reform of the electoral college. Reform
proposals are routinely introduced in nearly every Congress, but the results from the 2004
election suggest that a public mandate for changing or abolishing the electoral college has yet to
emerge.
Eric A. Fischer Kevin J. Coleman
Senior Specialist in Science and Technology Analyst in Elections
efischer@crs.loc.gov, 7-7071 kcoleman@crs.loc.gov, 7-7878