[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19008-19009]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  CONFIRMATION OF DONETTA L. DAVIDSON

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, today the Senate is acting to fill a vacant 
seat on the Election Assistance Commission EAC with the confirmation of 
Ms. Donetta L. Davidson, of Colorado. Ms. Davidson was nominated by 
President Bush to serve the remainder of the 4-year term of DeForest B. 
Soaries, Jr, resigned. Her term will expire on December 12, 2007.
  I want to thank the distinguished Chairman of the Rules Committee, 
Senator Lott, for facilitating and expediting action on this 
nomination. By confirming Ms. Davidson at this time, the Senate is 
ensuring that the Commission will have a full complement of members as 
it faces action on some of the most important provisions of the Help 
American Vote Act this fall.
  Nearly 3 years ago, President Bush signed into law the Help America 
Vote Act--HAVA. For the first time in our history, this landmark 
legislation recognizes the need for a Federal partnership in the 
conduct of Federal elections by the States. While this partnership 
respects the authority of State and local governments to administer 
Federal elections, it also provides Federal leadership and support 
through the establishment of minimum requirements that all States must 
meet in all Federal elections.
  One of the primary goals of HAVA is to bolster public confidence in 
our system of Federal elections by addressing the problems and 
irregularities that arose in the November 2000 general election. And 
this is why, following that election, a bipartisan group of Senators 
and Members of Congress came together to enact the Help America Vote 
Act. Although the original bipartisan authors of HAVA initially viewed 
the outcome of the 2000 elections very differently, in the end, we all 
agreed that the Federal Government had an appropriate role to play to 
ensure that in our democracy, we made it easier to vote and harder to 
defraud the system.
  HAVA established a number of requirements for election administration 
and voting technology in Federal elections, including requirements for 
voting systems, provisional ballots, and statewide voter registration 
lists. To date, Congress has appropriated over $3 billion in Federal 
funding for payments to the States for nationwide implementation of 
these requirements.
  The Act also established a new Federal agency, the Election 
Assistance Commission--EAC. Among other things, the EAC serves as a 
clearinghouse to identify best practices for State and local election 
officials to use to conduct elections. The EAC is designed to bring 
together all stakeholders who play a role in elections--from voting 
machine manufacturers to voter registration organizations and other 
civil rights and disability rights groups to State and local election 
officials and administrators--to facilitate fair and transparent 
Federal elections throughout America.
  Ms. Davidson joins the EAC at a crucial time. In less than 6 months, 
by January 1, 2006, all States are required to fully implement two of 
the most significant requirements in HAVA: the voluntary voting system 
standards and the statewide voter registration list. Taken as a whole, 
these two requirements promote accurate, accessible, nondiscriminatory, 
user-friendly and transparent elections. They serve as the mechanisms 
by which all eligible voters can cast their votes and have their votes 
counted.
  Ms. Davidson's qualifications will serve her well at the EAC and 
reflect years of experience as both a State and local election official 
as well as an active participant on numerous national and State 
professional organizations. She currently serves as the Secretary of 
State for Colorado and previously served as the Arapahoe Country Clerk 
and Recorder in Littleton, CO and as the Director of Elections at the 
Colorado Department of State. In addition, she also currently serves as 
the vice chair of the National Association of Secretaries of State.
  Her background will bring to the EAC the election administration and 
technology skills and experience that will help facilitate the 
nationwide implementation of HAVA, in particular the voluntary voting 
system guidelines expected to be approved by the EAC this fall. Her 
involvement with the existing voluntary voting system standards, first 
issued by the Federal Election Commission, dates to the mid- 1990s and 
her support for those standards contributed to their adoption in 
Colorado.
  Most recently, Ms. Davidson served as one of the 15 experts on the 
Technical Guidelines Development Committee TGDC established under HAVA 
to develop an initial set of recommendations for the voluntary voting 
system guidelines with technical support and expertise from the 
National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST. At the end of the 
public comment and revision process, these recommendations are expected 
to form the bases of the new Federal voluntary voting system guidelines 
issued by the EAC.
  Ms. Davidson's confirmation today ensures that the EAC has a full and

[[Page 19009]]

permanent complement of commissioners as we move toward the full 
implementation of HAVA and the November 2006 Federal elections. The EAC 
will be well served by Ms. Davidson's expertise on election issues and 
her broad experience working with all stakeholders in Federal 
elections, including local election officials and their voters.
  I congratulate Ms. Davidson on the honor of being nominated and 
confirmed to the Election Assistance Commission. It is an awesome 
responsibility and one that her background has prepared her well to 
meet.
  To ensure that our Federal partnership gives voice to all Americans 
and their very diverse experiences on election day, the Commission's 
work must reflect more than just the perspectives of any single State 
or local election official. Commissioners must represent all 50 States, 
the District of Columbia, and the territories--all of America and its 
diversity. I am confident that Commissioner Davidson will meet that 
goal.
  While political races among candidates may be partisan, Federal 
elections cannot be. The Help America Vote Act is appropriately the 
first civil rights act of the 21st Century, and Congress must fulfill 
its commitment to the American people to provide the States sufficient 
resources to fund the mandated reforms.
  In order for the EAC to meet its obligations under HAVA, it is 
critically important that Congress fully fund the agency and its 
requirements for fiscal year 2006. To support States in the nationwide 
implementation of HAVA, the Act authorized nearly $4 billion to pay for 
the requirements and tasked the EAC with several responsibilities. To 
date, Congress has appropriated over $3 billion to the States and 
territories.
  For fiscal year 2006, the EAC submitted an appropriations request at 
the funding level of $17,612,000, including four new staff positions 
to, among other duties, establish an Inspector General Office to 
monitor the Federal payments. The House-passed version of the 
Transportation, Treasury, HUD, Judiciary, District of Columbia 
appropriations bill provides only $15,877,000 for the EAC, and no funds 
for State requirements payments, with an earmark of $2.8 million for 
the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Complicating 
matters more, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a slightly 
lower funding level for the EAC at $13,888,000, with $4 million 
earmarked for NIST. An average of both Senate-House bills will not 
produce enough funding for the EAC to maintain its current level of 
operations.
  Without appropriate funding, the EAC will be unable to fulfill its 
obligations to the States and the voters for the Federal elections in 
2006. To date, the EAC has been underfunded by over $822 million, 
including a funding gap of $600 million for requirements, $95 million 
for disability access grants and $127 million for other HAVA programs 
such as research and development for voting systems. When we return 
from the August recess, the Senate will complete its work on the 
Transportation, Treasury appropriations bill. It is my hope that we 
will be able to find the necessary resources to ensure the full 
implementation of HAVA without creating an unfunded mandate on the 
States.
  In the meantime, I congratulate Commissioner Davidson on her 
appointment and look forward to working closely with her as she 
oversees the implementation of the most critical requirements of HAVA 
for the upcoming 2006 Federal elections and beyond in America.

                          ____________________