Late in 2014, the U.S. Congress finally — and unanimously — approved the appointment of three new commissioners to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The commission had been without a quorum for four years with new appointments getting hung up on things the way most things on Capitol Hill get hung up — partisanship. And even with a quorum finally in place, some on Capitol Hill aren’t all that happy. Mississippi Rep. Gregg Harper has introduced legislation to eliminate the EAC. H.R. 195 calls for the termination of the commission and assigns remaining duties to the Office of Personnel Management and the Federal Elections Commission. The legislation has been referred to the House Administration Committee.
Despite the legislative cloud, the new members of the commission quickly got to work following their January swearing in and have held several public meetings and roundtables, began a national search for a new executive director and have visited and spoken with elections officials nationwide.
Although it’s a busy time for the new commission, each commissioner took a bit of time out their schedules to respond to some questions form electionlineWeekly about their thoughts on the state of elections in the United States.
Full Article: electionlineWeekly.