Summary of and Response to Comments on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s 2006 Election Administration and Voting Survey
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) issued its 2006 Election Administration and Voting Survey for public comments on August 1, 2006 (71 FR 43477). Fourteen public comments were received in response to the EAC’s request. The EAC made modifications in response to the comments to improve the clarity and consistency of the information collection. Not all comments were appropriate to accommodate at this time due to the short notice election officials would have to organize and collect the new data or they were outside the scope of the information collection. However, the EAC will consider those comments for incorporation into the 2008 version of the EAC’s Election Administration and Voting Survey. It should be noted that the long-term goals of the EAC Survey includes refining the information collection to gather as much data as possible at the lowest level of analysis (precinct) regarding the administration of election, but this process will require careful planning and implementation so as to maintain the lowest burden possible on respondents. A copy of the comments received is being provided as part of this ICR.
The following changes were made to the information collection as a result of the public comments received.
The definition for “duplicate registration application” now reads: “refers to an application to register by a person already registered to vote at the same address, under the same name and personal information (i.e. date of birth, social security number, driver’s license, etc.), and the same political party (where applicable).”
The following question was inserted and is now the first question on the survey:
Please, check if your State is exempt from NVRA:
Yes; exempt from NVRA.
No; not exempt from NVRA.
Respondents now have the choice to mark either a “Don’t Know” or “Check if your office does not collect this data” for questions requiring a numeric answer. In addition, a “Comment” box has been included after each question for respondents to address any concerns or provide additional information relating to that particular question.
For question 3 (previously #2), the State of Montana was included in the list of states that allow registration on Election Day.
Question 9 (previously #8) was rephrased as follows: “Total number statewide and by county/local jurisdiction of new, valid registrations verified and processed between the close of registration for the November 2, 2004, Federal general elections until the close of registration for the November 7, 2006, Federal general elections. **This includes all registrations that are new to the local jurisdiction and re-registrations due to a change of address across jurisdictional lines but within the state. This does not include applications that are duplicates, rejected, or report only a change of name, address, or (where applicable) party preference within the local jurisdiction.”
In Question 11 (previously #10), “Tax Assessors” and “Tax Collectors” are now listed separately.
Question 12 (previously #11) now reads as follows:
Identify each and every other state and local government office or agency designated as a voter registration agency (provides voter registration opportunities/services):
Motor vehicle offices
All offices that provide public assistance that are mandated as registration sites by NVRA
All offices that provide state-funded programs primarily serving persons with disabilities that are mandated as registration sites by NVRA
All Armed Forces recruitment offices that are mandated as registration sites by NVRA
Other agencies designated by the State as registration sites, and which are not mandated as registration sites by NVRA.
►Please, provide the names of the agencies designated by the State as registration sites, and which are not mandated as registration sites by NVRA.
Question 13 (previously #12) now reads as follows:
Does your office provide training on the voter registration process to employees of Federal, State, and local government offices or agencies designated as voter registration agencies?
Yes, our office provides training on the voter registration process to ALL Federal, State, and local government offices or agencies designated as voter registration agencies.
►If yes, how frequently does your office provide training the above training?
Monthly Quarterly Biannual Annual Biennial
Other (please, specify)
Yes, our office provides training on the voter registration process to SOME, BUT NOT ALL, Federal, State, and local government offices or agencies designated as voter registration agencies.
►If yes, how frequently does your office provide training the above training?
Monthly Quarterly Biannual Annual Biennial
Other (please, specify)
No, our office provides no such training.
Question 14 (previously #13) now reads as follows:
How are voter registration applications transferred from the other voter registration agencies listed in response to Question 12 to the official responsible for voter registration (see Question 11)? Please, select all that apply.
Courier
Fax
Hand-delivered
Inter-office mail
U.S. mail
Electronic (If electronic, then select the appropriate media below.)
Power Profile System Tape Disk, CD, or other portable storage media
VPN Other electronic media (please, specify)
Other (please, specify)
Question 17 (previously #16) now reads as follows:
How do the voter registration officials identified in Question 11 verify voter registration applications? (This refers to the process of verifying the applications used to register to vote. This does not refer to the process of verifying voter identity when they go to vote.) Please, select all that apply.
Check jury lists
Verify through the department of motor vehicles
Verify through the Social Security Administration’s records
Verify through the State’s vital statistics records
Verify through other state agency (please, specify agency)
Matched against the voter registration database
Tracking of returned voter identification cards
Tracking the return of disposition notices
Other (please, specify)
Question 18 (previously #17) now reads as follows:
What data fields are compared (used as matching criteria) to identify duplicate registrations? Please, select all that apply.
Address
Date of birth
Driver’s license number
Names provided by registrant
Social Security number
Other (please, specify)
Question 21 (previously #20) now reads as follows:
How does the statewide voter registration database link to the State's department of motor vehicles?
Real-time
Specific time intervals (please, specify)
Other (please, specify)
Question 30 (previously #29) now includes “Tax offices.”
The definition for “At the polls” was clarified to read as follows: “"refers to ballots issued, cast, or counted on a jurisdiction's voting system on Election Day at a polling place (separate from early and in-person absentee voting at the polls prior to Election Day).”
The definition for “Ballots Cast” was clarified to read as follows: “refers to ballots that have been submitted manually or electronically by a voter regardless of whether they are ultimately counted. Note: For jurisdictions that provide voters with more than one ballot card to vote for different contests or measures should only report one ballot cast per voter.”
The definition for “Domestic civilian absentee ballot” was clarified to read as follows: “refers to a ballot available to a non-military citizen living in the United States who is registered to vote and meets the State's requirement for voting absentee, and is not considered early voting by state definitions. Generally, a voter must request an absentee ballot from their local election office, and the completed ballot may be sent back by mail or dropped off in person (in-person absentee) depending on the laws and regulations of the voter’s State of residence.”
The definition for “Domestic military citizen” now reads: “Domestic military citizen is statutorily defined as…”
The definition for “Early voting” was clarified to read as follows: “refers generally to any in-person voting that occurred prior to November 7, 2006, at specific polling locations for which there were no special eligibility requirements, and is not considered absentee voting under the State’s definitions/requirements for absentee voting.”
The definition for “Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB)” was clarified to read as follows: “…is an emergency ballot available to military and overseas citizens (including APO and FPO addresses) when they have properly requested but have not received a regular absentee ballot from their local jurisdiction in time to return it before the deadline.”
The definition for “Overseas military citizen” now reads: “Overseas military citizen is statutorily defined as …”
The definition for “Provisional Ballot” was clarified to read as follows: “…refers to a ballot issued to a voter at the polling place when their eligibility to vote has not been determined.”
Question 32 (previously 31) was rephrased as: “Did your State conduct early voting for the November 7, 2006, Federal general elections?”
Questions 33 and 34 were originally asked as part of the same question, but to avoid confusion the data is being requested separately. In addition, the following item was added to both questions (and later on in questions 38-40):
UOCAVA voters: If you are not able to separate ballots cast/counted for UOCAVA voters into the categories above, please, provide the combined total statewide and by county/local jurisdiction:
For question 37 (previously #35), the category of “Administrative error” was removed.”
Question 38 (previously #36) no longer asks for the number of absentee ballots “not counted,” it only asks for the number of absentee ballots that were requested.
Question 39 (previously #37) was clarified to read as follows: “Total number statewide and by county/local jurisdiction of advanced ballots TRANSMITTED to military and overseas citizens for the November 7, 2006 Federal general elections: (Advanced ballot means any special Write-In Absentee Ballot, State Write-In Absentee Ballot, Special Write-In Early Ballot, or Blank Absentee Ballot that is distributed by a state in advance of the publication of an official ballot for a federal election on which military and overseas citizens are allowed to write in the name of the candidate in each contest for whom they choose to vote.)”
For question 41, the categories of “Elector deceased” and “Elector voted early at the polls” were rephrased as “Voter deceased” and “Already voted in person.”
Question 50 (previously 48) was rephrased as: “Total number statewide and by county/local jurisdiction of precincts for the November 7, 2006, Federal general elections.”
Question 53 (previously 51) was rephrased as: “Total number statewide and by county/local jurisdiction of polling places where voters with disabilities can cast a private ballot for the November 7, 2006, Federal general elections: (Identify the total number of polling places where voting equipment is used such that a visually disabled voter can cast a private ballot (e.g., a DRE with audio ballot capability or paper ballots in Braille).”
Question 55 was inserted to capture information regarding voting equipment in use during the November 7, 2006, Federal general elections. This question was previously asked by the EAC in their 2004 Election Day Survey, and initially removed for purposes of this survey. However, in light of the public comments and the current attention on voting equipment/systems the EAC felt it was necessary to include it in the final information collection. The question reads as follows:
Please, provide a list of the types of voting equipment used in each county during the November 7, 2006, Federal general elections. Please, provide the following for each county:
Name of county
Type of voting system(s)
Manufacturer
Software version (if applicable)
Question 56 (previously 52) was rephrased to read as follows:
Please, provide the following for each local election jurisdiction official that provided information for purposes of responding to this survey:
Name
Title
Agency/Office
Street address
P.O. Box number
City
State
Zip code
Telephone number
General e-mail address (if available)
Question 57 (previously 53) was rephrased to read as follows:
Identify any other sources of information used to respond to this survey other than those provided in response to the two previous questions. (All other sources of data shall include information obtained from a statewide voter registration database or any other public or non-public source). For individuals and agencies, please, include the following:
Statewide voter registration database
Other public and non-public sources – please, include the following:
Name of contact person
Title
Agency/Office
Street address
P.O. Box number
City
State
Zip code
Telephone number
General e-mail address (if available)
Question 58 (previously 54) was rephrased to read as follows:
Please, provide a list of the local individuals/entities responsible for registering voters (see Question 11) and those administering elections; include their name/entity, title, complete mailing address, telephone number, and general e-mail address (if available). In some cases, these two activities are carried out by one individual/entity and in others they are divided between two or more; please, identify which individual is responsible for each of the activities.
Name
Title
Agency/Office
Role (voter registration, election administration, or both)
Street address
P.O. Box number
City
State
Zip code
Telephone number
General e-mail address (if available)
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Summary of and Response to Comments on the U |
| Author | Laiza N. Otero |
| Last Modified By | Laiza N. Otero |
| File Modified | 2006-10-25 |
| File Created | 2006-10-20 |