Justification

Justification for Approval of Non-Substantive Changes

For 2012, EAC’s Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) will remain largely unchanged
from the 2010 version (except for minor changes to some question wording for the purpose of clarifying
the type of information EAC seeks). EAC’s interest in limiting respondent burden and maintaining as
much consistency as possible in the questions asked between 2010 and 2012 is, in part, why the
commission wishes not to make any substantive changes. The survey is largely unchanged from the
2010 version and will be placed on EAC’s website along with a list of the minor edits made. EAC
consulted with its statutory boards and trade association members (comprised of State and local election
officials) regarding the intent to make no substantive changes to the 2012 survey. That decision was
overwhelmingly supported by these stakeholders.

The minor language changes to the 2012 EAVS survey include:
Section A (quantitative):
Question A4a: Adding “Same Day” in order to clarify that we want information about Same Day
registrations
Total new Same Day registrations
Question A6-A9: Adding an asterisk mark with the following language
*Sub-question “e” should
include all forms handled through the public assistance agency process (i.e., paper, online). This
sentence will be added as a way to clarify for respondents what should be included in A6-9e regarding
public assistance voter registration forms. With more and more states offering online voter registration
we want to ensure that those numbers are included and that public assistance offices are not just
including counts for paper forms.
Question A10: This edit involves changing “removal” to “confirmation” as a way of clarifying for
respondents what EAC means. Both terms had been included previously to accommodate variation in
states’ use of these terms. EAC noticed that some confusion resulted from this and would like to use
“confirmation,” which is the term used in the National Voter Registration Act regulations.

Enter the total number of confirmation removal notices sent to voters in the period between the
close of registration…

Section B (qualitative):
Question C7: There is no change to the original question. The additional language in red text is to
clarify for respondents the type of post-election audit information EAC is seeking. We noticed in the
2010 responses that states’ answers varied widely; we thought additional guidance might yield better
responses from the states.

Please describe your state’s laws regarding post-election audits, if any. A post-election audit refers to
hand-counting votes on paper records and comparing those counts to the corresponding vote
counts originally reported, as a check on the accuracy of election results, and resolving
discrepancies using accurate hand counts of the paper records as the benchmark. If your state has
post-election auditing, consider including in your response information such as the unit being
audited (e.g., precincts, machines); the sampling method (e.g., fixed percentages); whether there is
a specific trigger for the audit; the location of the random selection (e.g., state, county); and the
races that can be audited.

Question E2: EAC would like to remove this question. It was included in 2010 order to get a sense of
how states were planning to implement the new MOVE Act requirements for the 2010 election. EAC
believes it can be removed because by 2012 all states should have implemented the various provisions of
the MOVE Act. There is no need to ask them how they plan to comply with the Act.
E2. The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE) was signed into law on October 22,
2009. The MOVE Act contains, among other things, provisions regarding States’ methods of
communication with UOCAVA voters and UOCAVA ballot transmission.
Please describe your State’s processes and procedures for implementing MOVE (including any changes
in your State’s laws or regulations) as they relate to:
•
•
•

Protecting the security and integrity of the voter registration and ballot application process, the
privacy and personal information of the voter, and absentee ballots. (Sect. 577, 578)
Designating a means of electronic communication for all voting-related materials to UOCAVA
voters. (Sect. 577)
Establishing a ballot tracking mechanism to allow voters to determine whether their ballots were
received by the appropriate election official. (Sect. 580(d))

Also, please describe your State’s plans to capture data related to the number of registration
applications, ballot applications, and blank ballots transmitted to UOCAVA voters via mail and
electronic means (Internet, email, fax) and the number of registration applications, ballot applications,
and completed ballots returned by UOCAVA voters via mail and electronic means (Internet, email, fax).