In 2009 and 2010, Congress appropriated a total of $8,000,000 to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to create a three-year research and development (R&D) competitive grant program to improve voting accessibility for all citizens. The EAC awarded two grants through the development of the Accessible Voting Technology Initiative (AVTI). The grantees formally concluded their efforts in September 2014. Through the AVTI, the EAC and its grantees have produced approximately 45 R&D technological and administrative solutions that ensure all citizens can vote privately and independently, which is a requirement of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA); greatly enhanced voting machines coming to market through technology transfer; and piloted Prime III, an open source voting system in multiple elections across the U.S.
The AVTI grants were awarded to Clemson University and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). The Clemson program or Research Alliance for Accessible Voting (RAAV) is headed by Dr. Juan Gilbert and the ITIF program is administered by Mr. Daniel Castro. Clemson received $4,500,000 and ITIF received $2,500,000. In a separate grant competition, ITIF was awarded $500,000 under the Military Heroes Initiative grant program. Additionally, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) received $500,000 to help grantees with technical assistance and technology transition. The below link to the NIST AVTI portal further details their contributions.
Please access the below links for additional information regarding the sub-grantees and their official reports:
Clemson University: Research Alliance for Accessible Voting (RAAV)