2013-30790. Proposed Information Collection-2014 Election Administration and Voting Survey; Comment Request

AGENCY:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, EAC announces an information collection and seeks public comment on the provisions thereof. The EAC, pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.5(a)(iii), intends to submit this proposed information collection (2014 Election Administration and Voting Survey) to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for approval. The 2014 Election Administration and Voting Survey (Survey) asks election officials questions concerning voting and election administration. These questions request information concerning ballots cast; voter registration; overseas and military voting; Election Day activities; voting technology; and other important issues. The EAC issues the survey to meet its obligations under the Help America Vote Act to serve as national clearinghouse and resource for the compilation of information with respect to the administration of Federal elections; to fulfill both the EAC's and the Department of Defense Federal Voting Assistance Programs' quantitative State data collection requirements under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA); and meet its National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) mandate to collect information from states concerning the impact of that statute on the administration of Federal Elections.

DATES:

Written comments must be submitted on or before 4 p.m. EST on January 27, 2014.

Comments: Public comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Comments on the proposed information collection should be submitted electronically to [e-mail]. Written comments on the proposed information collection can also be sent to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1335 East West Highway, Suite 4300, Silver Spring, MD 20910, Attn: Election Administration and Voting Survey.

Obtaining a Copy of the Survey: To obtain a free copy of the survey: (1) Access the EAC Web site at http://www.eac.gov and download an electronic copy of the survey; or (2) write to the EAC (including your address and phone number) at U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1335 East West Highway, Suite 4300, Silver Spring, MD 20910, Attn: Election Administration and Voting Survey.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ms. Karen Lynn-Dyson at [phone] U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1335 East West Highway, Suite 4300, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Needs and Uses: The EAC issues the survey to meet its obligations under the Help America Vote Act to serve as national clearinghouse and resource for the compilation of information with respect to the administration of Federal elections; to fulfill both the EAC and Department of Defense Federal Voting Assistance Program data collection requirements under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA); and meet its National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) mandate to collect information from states concerning the impact of that statute on the administration of Federal Elections. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) (42 U.S.C. 15322) requires the EAC to serve as a national clearinghouse and resource for the compilation of information and review of procedures with respect to the administration of Federal Elections. This includes the obligation to study and report on election activities, practices, policies, and procedures, including methods of voter registration, methods of conducting provisional voting, poll worker recruitment and training, and such other matters as the Commission determines are appropriate. In addition, under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the EAC is responsible for collecting information and reporting, biennially, to the United States Congress on the impact of that statute. The information the States are required to submit to the EAC for purposes of the NVRA report are found under Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations. States that respond to questions in this survey concerning voter registration related matters will meet their NVRA reporting requirements under 42 U.S.C. 1973gg-7 and EAC regulations. Finally, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voters Act (UOCAVA) mandates that the Department of Defense Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) work with the EAC and State Chief Election officials to develop standards for reporting UOCAVA voting information (42 U.S.C. 1973ff-1) and that the FVAP will store the reported data and present the findings within the congressionally-mandated report to the President and Congress. Additionally, UOCAVA requires that “not later than 90 days after the date of each regularly scheduled general election for Federal office, each State and unit of local government which administered the election shall (through the State, in the case of a unit of local government) submit a report to the Election Assistance Commission (established under the Help America Vote Act of 2002) on the combined number of absentee ballots transmitted to absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters for the election and the combined number of such ballots which were returned by such voters and cast in the election, and shall make such a report available to the general public.” States that complete and timely submit the UOCAVA section of the survey to the EAC will fulfill their UOCAVA reporting requirement under 42 U.S.C. 1973ff-1(c). In order to fulfill the above requirements, the EAC is seeking information relating to the period from the Federal general election day 2012 +1 through the November 2014 Federal general election.

The 2014 Survey has been expanded to include all of the questions from the Post-Election Survey of State and Local Election Officials, OMB Control Number 0704-0125, formerly conducted by the Department of Defense Federal Voting Assistance Program. The Election Assistance Commission will provide the data from the new included items to the Department of Defense after data collection is completed. The additional questions are necessary to fulfill the mandate of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA of 1986 [42 U.S.C. 1973ff]). UOCAVA requires the States to allow Uniformed Services personnel, their family members, and overseas citizens to use absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee ballot in general, special, primary, and runoff elections for Federal offices. UOCAVA covers members of the Uniformed Services and the Merchant Marine to include the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Public Health Service and their eligible dependents, Federal civilian employees overseas, and overseas U.S. citizens not affiliated with the Federal Government. Local Election Officials (LEO) process voter registration and absentee ballot applications, send absentee ballots to voters, and receive and process the voted ballots in counties, cities, parishes, townships and other jurisdictions within the U.S. The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) conducts the post-election survey of State and Local Election Officials to determine registration and participation rates that are representative of all citizens covered by the Act, to measure State-Federal cooperation, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the overall absentee voting program.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

 

Title and OMB Number: 2014 Election Administration and Voting Survey; OMB Number Pending.

Summary of the Collection of Information: The survey requests information on a state- and county-level (or township-, independent city-, borough-level, where applicable) concerning the following categories:

Voter Registration Applications (From the Period of Federal General Election Day +1, 2012 through Federal General Election Day, 2014)

(a) Total number of registered voters; (b) Number of active and inactive registered voters; (c) Number of persons who registered to vote on Election Day—only applicable to States with Election Day registration; (d) Number of voters who registered using online registration—only applicable to States that allow online registration: (e) Number of voter registration applications received from all sources; (f) Number of voter registration applications that were duplicates, invalid or rejected, new, changes of name, address, party, and not categorized; (g) Number of duplicate registration applications received from all sources; (h) Total number of removal/confirmation notices mailed to voters and the reason for removal; (i) total number of voters removed from the registration list or moved to the inactive registration list.

Uniformed & Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA)

(a) Total number and type of UOCAVA absentee ballots transmitted; (b) Total number and type of UOCAVA ballots returned and submitted for counting; (c) Total number and type of UOCAVA ballot returned by type of UOCAVA voter; (d) Total number and type of all UOCAVA ballots counted; (e) Total number and type of UOCAVA ballot counted by type of UOCAVA voter; (f) Total number and type of all UOCAVA ballots rejected; (g) Total number of UOCAVA ballots rejected by reason for rejection; (h) Total number of UOCAVA ballot rejected by type of UOCAVA voter; (i) Total number and type of registered and eligible UOCAVA voters; (j) Total number of Federal Post Card Applications (FPCAs) received by type of voter; (k) Total number of FPCAs rejected by type of voter; (l) Total number of FPCAs rejected after the absentee ballot request deadline; (m) Date when transmission of absentee ballots to UOCAVA voters began for the November election cycle; (n) Total number of UOCAVA ballots transmitted before and after the 45-day deadline by mode of transmission; (o) Total number of UOCAVA ballots transmitted that were returned as undeliverable by mode of transmission; (p) Total number of UOCAVA ballots returned by voters, excluding Federal Write-In Absentee Ballots (FWABs); (q) Total number of UOCAVA ballots returned by voters and rejected, excluding FWABS, by type of voter and by mode of transmission; (r) Total number of UOCAVA ballots counted by mode of transmission, excluding FWABS; (s) Total number of FWABs received by type of voter; (t) Total number of FWABs rejected by type of voter; (u) Total number of FWABs rejected by reason for rejection; and (v) Total number of FWABs received by type of voter.

Election Administration

(a) Total number of precincts in the state/jurisdiction; (b) Number of polling places available for voting in the November 2014 Federal general election; (c) Number of poll workers used for Election Day; (d) Extent to which jurisdictions had enough poll workers available for the general election.

Election Day Activities

(a) Total number of persons who voted in the 2014 Federal general election; (b) The source of the participation number—poll books, ballots counted, vote history; (c) Total number of first-time voters who registered by mail and were required to provide identification in order to vote; (d) Number of voters who appeared on the permanent absentee voter registration list; (e) Number of absentee ballots requested, received, counted, and not counted; (f) Reasons for absentee ballot rejection; (g) Number of provisional ballots cast, counted, and rejected; (h) Reasons for provisional ballot rejection; (i) Use of electronic and printed poll books during the 2014 Federal general election; (j) Type and number of voting equipment used for the 2014 Federal general election; (k) Type of process in which voting equipment was used—precinct, absentee, early vote site, accessible to disabled voters, provisional voting; (l) Location in which votes were tallied—central location, precinct/polling place, or early vote site; (m) General comments regarding the jurisdiction's Election Day experiences.

2014 Election Results

Total number of votes cast—at polling places, via absentee ballot, at early vote centers, via provisional ballots.

Statutory Overview (2014 Federal General Election)

(a) Information on whether the state is exempt from the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA); (b) State definition of terms—over-vote, under-vote, blank ballot, void/spoiled ballot, provisional/challenged ballot; (c) State definition of inactive and active voter; (d) State provision for voter identification at registration, for in-person voting, and for mail-in or absentee voting; (e) information on legal citation for changes to election laws or procedures enacted or adopted since the previous Federal general election; (f) State definition of voter registration; (g) Process used for moving voters from active to inactive lists and from inactive to active; (h) State deadline for registration for the Federal general election; (i) Information of whether the state is an Election Day/Same Day Registration state; (j) Description of state voter registration database system—bottom-up or top-down; (k) State voter removal/confirmation notices processes; (l) Agency or department that is responsible for list maintenance; (m) Information on whether there are electronic links between the voter registrar's office and other state agencies; (n) State's use of National Change of Address (NCOA); (o) State's voting eligibility requirements as they relate to convicted felons; (p) Tabulation of votes cast at a place other than the voter's precinct; (q) Provision for voting absentee; (r) State tracking of the date of all ballots cast before election day; (s) Provision for mail-in voting in place of at-the-precinct voting; (t) Acceptance or rejection of provisional ballots of voters registered in a different precinct; (u) State process for capturing over-votes and under-votes. States and territories that submitted a Statutory Overview for 2008 will be asked to provide updates to the information above, where applicable.

Affected Public (Respondents): State or local governments, the District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the United States Virgin Islands.

Affected Public: State or local government.

Number of Respondents: 55.

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Estimated Burden per Response: 230 hours per collection, 115 hours annualized.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 12,650 hours per collection, 6,325 hours annualized.

Frequency: Biennially.

Alice Miller,

Chief Operating Officer and Acting Executive Director, U.S. Election Assistance Commission.