FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Board selects Executive Board members from Virginia, Arizona, U.S. Virgin Islands
San Antonio, Tex. – Today members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) Standards Board concluded their annual meeting to discuss the accessibility, accuracy and security of federal elections. The gathering included a vote to name three members to the Standard Board’s Executive Board, including Greg Riddlemoser of Virginia, Reynaldo Valenzuela of Arizona and Genevieve Whitaker of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Voters can take pride in the exceptional men and women who run this nation’s elections, which including the state and local election officials who comprise the EAC’s Standards Board,” said U.S. Election Assistance Commission Commissioner Christy McCormick, who is the board’s Designated Federal Officer. “The EAC’s Standards Board plays a vital role in our work to assist election administrators from across the nation. Their guidance and insight ensure that the EAC’s efforts align with the needs of those who actually carry out elections and the voters they serve.”
This week’s meeting took place from April 26-28 in San Antonio. The EAC Standards Board was established under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and is comprised of 110 state and local election leaders representing each state and U.S. territory. Among its members are 55 state election officials selected by their respective chief state election official, and 55 local election officials selected through a process supervised by the chief state election official. HAVA prohibits any two members representing the same state to be members of the same political party. The board selects nine members to serve as an executive board, of which not more than five are state election officials, not more than five are local election officials, and not more than five are members of the same political party.
During this week’s meeting, members of the Standards Board filled three Executive Board seats with the following election leaders:
- Greg Riddlemoser, Director of Elections and General Registrar for Stafford County, Va.
- Reynaldo Valenzuela, Maricopa County Elections Director, Ariz.
- Genevieve Whitaker, Deputy Supervisor for the Elections System, U.S. Virgin Islands.
In addition to the election of new executive board members, this week’s meeting included a visit to Fort Sam Houston and a tour of the Bexar County Election Office. The Standards Board also engaged in an in-depth examination of issues such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s January 2017 decision to designate election systems as part of the nation’s critical infrastructure, standards for the next generation of voting system certification guidelines, how best to serve military and overseas voters and how the EAC plans to support state and local election administrators to improve voter experience and election procedures. The gathering featured presentations from speakers from across the nation, including each of the EAC’s three commissioners and representatives from the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Justice, the U.S. Postal Service, the National Association of Secretaries of State and Google.
Click here to view the meeting agenda and speakers list. For more information, contact Brenda Bowser Soder at [email protected] or 202-897-9285 (mobile).
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). It is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with ensuring secure, accurate and accessible elections by developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration. EAC also accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, as well as administers the use of HAVA funds. For more information, visit www.eac.gov.