U.S. Election Assistance Commissions Chair Gineen Beach will finish her two-day state visit to Wisconsin today to observe election administration and open discussion on the topic with state officials and members of the public.
The EAC is a bipartisan agency created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to distribute federal election aid to states and help states administer federal elections, according to Government Accountability Board spokesperson Reid Magney.
According to a statement released late last week, the GAB has received $50 million in HAVA funds since 2004.
“[Beach] visits states all the time, but we specifically invited the EAC to come and visit us so that she could see how elections are administered in Wisconsin,” Magney said.
Beach’s visit comes right after the GAB’s 2009-14 Election Administration Plan was submitted to the EAC Friday after being approved by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance. The plan requests funds from the commission in order to improve the election process in the state.
Magney said, however, Beach’s visit does not affect EAC’s decision for the plan.
“She’s here just as we finished the plan, but no approval per se is required,” Magney said. “We send the plan to them … and they publish it. The federal fund is their reserve for us.”
An additional $3.9 million in federal funding for the GAB will further facilitate election processes
According to Magney, the GAB provides support for local partners to about 1,850 municipal clerks and 72 county clerks to administer local elections. Money has been used to provide handicap-accessible voting machines in polling places and training poll workers to conduct elections.
On the first day of her visit, Beach had numerous meetings with local election officials and representatives of community groups interested in election issues. During her meeting with members of the public, she addressed the public’s concerns over election procedures.
“What we are trying to do is to keep the balance between both the integrity of the vote and the convenience,” Beach said. “And that’s what elections officials have been trying to secure.”
Beach added she is here to learn what states are doing with their election administrations. She said meetings like the ones hosted in Wisconsin make one-on-one conversation at local levels possible.
She also cited Wisconsin’s contingency plan for dealing with the H1N1 flu season for upcoming elections as the best example of local election planning.
However, Paul Malischke, spokesperson for Fair Elections Wisconsin, an independent organization working for elections, praised the visit.
“It is wonderful that the EAC chair is willing to travel and meet with Wisconsin officials and also members of the public,” Malischke said in an e-mail. “The EAC certifies voting machines, and many people are concerned about the accuracy and reliability of the equipment.”
He added that because the GAB is an open and transparent body, citizens who are concerned about voting issues can easily address GAB members at every meeting.
