News & Events

U.S. Election Assistance Commission to Hold Hearing at Moritz on Nation's Provisional Voting in 2004 Election

Hearing will be held February 23 from 1:00-5:00 PM

February 17, 2005

 

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will hold a public hearing on the use of provisional voting in the 2004 election cycle on February 23 in Columbus, Ohio. The hearing will be held from 1:00-5:00 PM at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

• View Archived Webcast - Part I | Part II | Part III

Under a federal election reform law, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), all states were required to offer provisional ballots beginning in 2004. Provisional ballots are available to voters who believe they are eligible to vote although their names do not appear on the registration rolls. HAVA also charges EAC with developing voluntary guidance on the subject.

"We know that provisional ballots enabled more than one million Americans to vote on Election Day 2004," remarked EAC Chair Gracia Hillman. "These were voters who were eligible to vote, but without the protection of HAVA, they would have been denied their right to cast a ballot. Preliminary data collected from 41 states also shows that more than 500,000 provisional ballots were not counted. It is important for us to learn more about the successes and failures of provisional voting in order to assist election officials in conducting this type of voting in the future."

The public hearing will feature three panels comprised of state and local election officials, academic experts on provisional voting and representatives of voter advocacy organizations. Featured panelists include the following:

Election Officials

• Hon. Glenda Hood, Florida Secretary of State
• Hon. Rebecca Vigil-Giron, New Mexico Secretary of State
• Hon. J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State
• Mr. Michael Vu, Director, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (OH)
• Ms. Cherie Poucher, Director, Wade County Board of Elections (NC)

Academics

• Professor Dan Tokaji, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University
• Mr. John Lott, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
• Professor Edward Foley, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University

Voter Advocacy Organization Representatives

• Ms. Kay Maxwell, National President, League of Women Voters
• Mr. John Fund, Editorial Board Member, Wall Street Journal
• Mr. Miles Rapoport, President, Demos

Testimony for the public hearing on provisional voting may be submitted in writing to EAC at testimony@eac.gov.

Congress created the four-member U.S. Election Assistance Commission under HAVA, which has provided approximately $3 billion in funding for election reform. EAC is charged with disbursing payments to states for replacement of voting systems and election administration improvements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse for the collection of information regarding election administration. EAC is also charged with providing guidance to states on a variety of election reform topics. EAC Commissioners are Gracia Hillman, Chair; Paul DeGregorio, Vice Chair; Ray Martinez III; and DeForest Soaries, Jr.

To learn more about EAC, please visit www.eac.gov.

Since 1891, the Moritz College of Law has played a leading role in the legal profession through countless contributions made by alumni and faculty. Graduates of the school reside in all 50 states and 20 other countries and include justices of the state supreme court justices , federal district and circuit court judges, current and former U.S. senators and representatives, state attorney s general, managing partners in law firms of all sizes, chief executive officers of Fortune 500 corporations, and attorneys with nonprofit organizations and public interest law firms.

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