After eight months of study in 2005, the GAO recommended that the EAC immediately take five actions that the GAO considered essential to fulfill the Commission’s HAVA mandate. To date, the EAC has accomplished only a portion of one of them.

The 2005 report emphasized the need for the EAC to complete “key activities.” In recognition of the EAC’s on-going failure to do so, the GAO’s 2007 report emphasizes the need for state and local governments to “address electronic voting system challenges.” It is clear that the responsibilities Congress assigned to the EAC must now, indeed, be taken over by the state and local governments.

Reliable elections are the bedrock of representative democracy. Because of the EAC’s failure to effectively execute its role, public dissatisfaction with the electoral process grows with each election, and the country is now in an election system crisis.

Bills recently introduced into both houses of Congress would establish and fund the EAC permanently, but such provisions defy common sense, and Congress should reject them.

Congress should not tolerate the EAC’s failure to comply with its mandate. It should immediately appoint well-qualified, competent Commissioners and Executive Director to replace those now in office, or it should refuse to authorize further funding for this agency.