EAC Progress Report Instructions

U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
Progress Report (PR) Guidance

Your State Plan (251) or your Program Narrative (101 grants) established the programmatic
objectives that EAC will monitor over the course of the performance period. The Election Assistance
Commission (EAC) requires all grantees to submit a Progress Report (PR). EAC also requires grantees to
submit financial reports of expenditures related to the state plan and objectives. Please refer to the EAC
Federal Financial Report Guidance for more information.
Due dates. Reports are due semi-annually until all funds and interest are disbursed. The mid-year
report covers the period from October 1 through March 31 and is due by April 30.
The annual report covers the 12-month period from October 1 - September 30 and is due by
December 29.

The final progress report is due 90 days after all funds under the grant have been expended, including
federal, state, program income and interest.
Submission Instructions. States must submit separate reports for each individual grant from EAC.
Reports should be completed in the appropriate electronic format.

COMPLETING THE PROGRESS REPORT
Section I: Cover Page

1. State or Territory: Enter the name of the state or territory that received the grant and is submitting
the report.
2. Grant Number: Enter the grant number from the Notice of Grant Award (NGA)
3. Grant Type:
□ 101
□ 251
□ Election Security
□ CARES

4. Report Type:
□ Semi-Annual (Oct 1 - March 31)
□ Annual (Oct 1 - Sept 30)
□ Final Report (Start of Grant-End)
□ Other [e.g., CARES]:

5. Reporting Period
Reporting Period Start Date: Enter the start date of the reporting period (MM/DD/YYYY)
Reporting Period End Date: Enter the end date of the reporting period (MM/DD/YYYY)
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Section II: Progress Narrative
Instructions: Reports due for the period ending March 31 should describe the activities of the
previous six-month period and reports due for the period ending September 30 should cover the
previous 12- month period. Final reports should cover the entire performance period from the start of
the grant.

EAC grants reports will be made publicly available. Therefore, your report narrative should:
• Be written in clear, concise, and plain language
• Not include sensitive confidential information

6. Describe in detail what happened during this reporting period and explain how you implemented
the approved grant activities in accordance with your State Plan/Program Narrative. (Note: Your
activities should align with your category expenditures in Section IV, and you may use those
categories as headings in your response as applicable.)

7. Provide a description of any training conducted, including security training.

8. Report on the number and type of articles of voting equipment obtained with the funds. Include the
amount expended on the expenditure chart.
9. Subgrants (if applicable): Describe the activities carried out by your subgrantees during the
reporting period.

10. Provide a breakdown of aggregate subaward expenditures across major categories. (Total
subaward expenditures should be provided in the expenditure table in Section IV).
Subgrant Program Category

Subgrant Federal Expenditures

Voting Equipment
Voting Processes

Voter Registration Systems
Election Auditing

Cyber and Physical Security

Voter Education
Accessibility

Other (write in):
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Total Subgrant Federal Expenditure:
11. Match (if applicable): Describe how you are meeting or have met the matching requirement. The
territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands are
exempt from match.
EXPENDITURE REPORTING IN PREDEFINED PROGRAM CATEGORIES
General Guidance
Please categorize your expenditures in the predefined program categories as much as possible. Only use
the Other categories for items that you cannot allocate to specific program categories. Include all budget
line items related to the activity in the category, such as staffing, travel, training, contracts for services, and
maintenance of any systems associated with the category. For example, if you have an annual software
upgrade for your Voter Registration system or conduct training for counties on the system, you should
allocate those expenditures under the Voter Registration System program category.

If you can estimate staff time to allocate to specific categories, please do so. For example, if you can
estimate that a staff person generally spends 50% of their time on Voter Registration Systems and 50% on
Voting Processes, report 50% of the salary costs to each Program Category. This does not mean the staff
person’s timekeeping process must allocate time to different program categories. You can estimate time
spent on each category for the purpose of progress reporting. However, you must still allocate time
separately if a specific staff person is paid with funds from more than one grant, e.g., if you cover a specific
staff person’s salary with funds from both your Section 251 and Election Security grant, the timesheet must
allocate their time to the different grants.

PROGRAM CATEGORIES DESCRIPTIONS
These descriptions will help you determine how to allocate expenditures to specific predefined program
categories.

1. Voting Equipment: This is a specialized category for software and hardware related to voting equipment
only. It includes funds to local election offices for voting equipment. You can also include any costs related
to the voting equipment program such as specific contracts and services related to voting equipment,
including storage, as described under General Guidance.
2. Voting Processes: Non-voting equipment-related costs to support the voting process including staffing,
maintenance and storage of voting equipment, training on use of the equipment, travel, and equipment
purchased to support the voting process that is not voting equipment, such as copiers with a per unit cost
over $5,000, as described under General Guidance.

3. Voter Registration Systems
Software and hardware related to updating and maintaining the statewide voter registration system and
processes, service contracts on voting equipment and processes, and all other identifiable costs related to
the Voter Registration System as described under General Guidance.
4. Election Auditing: All costs associated with post-election auditing, including staffing, etc. as described
under General Guidance.
5. Cyber and Physical Security: All costs associated with cyber and physical security such as security
cameras and as described under General Guidance.

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6. Voter Education
Activities related to voter education, including any contracts related to communicating voter education
through various print, online or other media. Also include here the state toll-free phone number expenses
for the public to communicate with state and county election offices, including for the public to report
suspected fraud, as described under General Guidance.
7. Accessibility: All costs associated with ensuring polling places and election-related facilities are fully
accessible as described under General Guidance.

8. Other (write in)
· Costs associated with the pandemic
· Bank Fees
· Audit Fees
· Software and licenses not directly allocable to one of the main program categories
· Overall election management/administration that cannot be allocated to main program categories

If you have any questions about how to categorize a specific allowable grant cost in these predefined
categories or whether to use Other, please reach out to the EAC Grants Office at [email protected] for
technical assistance.

Section III. Challenges and Changes
12. Issues Encountered: Describe any issues that arose during the implementation of the project.
Describe how and whether the issues were resolved. Also, briefly discuss the implications of any
unresolved issues or concerns.

13. Describe any significant changes to your program during the reporting period, including changes to
your original State Plan/Program Narrative or favorable developments that improved program
efficiency and/or service delivery.

Section IV: Expenditures
14. Fill out the table below with both the Federal and State Match expenditures for the current
reporting period. Include federal and state interest expenditures and write-in any cost areas that do
not fit into the predefined program categories. If applicable, the subgrants field should align with
the total amount reported in your narrative section discussing subgrants. Calculate total
expenditures for each column and verify any system generated totals, including any write-in
expenditures prior to submission.

Expenditures should be consistent with the activities described in your narrative and with the
amounts in your financial reports. (EAC uses the difference between your current and previous period
FFR to calculate current period expenditures).
Program Category

Federal

Match**

Voting Equipment
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Voting Processes

Voter Registration Systems
Election Auditing

Cyber and Physical Security

Voter Education
Accessibility

Other (write in):

Total (calculate the total for each column, Federal and Match)

*Match: The territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands are
exempt from match.
Section V: Final Assessment
The final progress report is your opportunity to share the significant successes of your project and present
information about the results your project achieved. The report should cover the entire period of
performance.
15. Self-Assessment – Assess whether the goals set out in your State plan/Narrative were met as
intended during the grant program. Highlight any needs that were not met or ongoing/under
resourced areas for future consideration.

16. Impact and Achievements - Describe how this grant program impacted elections in your
state/territory. Highlight your accomplishments and successes.

17. Lessons Learned – Describe any lessons learned during the grant that may be replicated, expanded
and/or help others.

Section VI. CERTIFICATION

18. / 19. The EAC-PR form must be submitted by an authorized individual. Fill in the Name and
Contact information of the authorized certifying official of the grant recipient, with complete
signature.

CHANGES TO STATE PLAN OR BUDGET

EAC understands that plans can change over the life of a grant. Consult the EAC Grants Office
([email protected]) if you need to revise plans and the budget in the future. For example, if the

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approved grant budget currently only includes costs associated with post-election auditing, you
cannot allocate costs related to printing additional ballots to the grant. However, you can request a
budget amendment from EAC to include costs related to voting systems and, thus, printing ballots. The
EAC will work to approve such budget amendments within 48 hours.
EXTENSION

Extensions must be approved by EAC and requests must be made in advance of the reporting
deadline. Any missed reports are recorded as late and out of compliance. Late reports may require a
corrective action plan and other enforcement remedies available to the agency under 2CFR200.339 –
343.

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