It's time for the Election Assistance Commission to go

The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is a bloated federal agency that has long outlived its purpose and recklessly mismanages its resources, yet continues to cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Put simply, the EAC is the perfect example of what’s wrong with Washington.
 
The EAC was created by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in conjunction with a federal decision to send billions of dollars to states to replace old punch card and lever voting systems and to implement statewide registration databases and other improvements. HAVA also identified a number of research studies to be completed and provided for a federal voting machine testing and certification program.
 
Today, all of those functions except the ongoing testing and certification are now complete. Specifically, the agency has completed four of the five federally mandated election studies. The one outstanding study is six years overdue and stalled in interagency controversy. To boot, the last three White House budgets did not request any additional funds for the EAC to distribute to states, and given budget realities, it is unlikely that more funds will be made available.

Nearly a decade after its creation and years since it accomplished its primary objectives, the commission continues to operate providing little to no benefit to our electoral system.

The EAC has a longstanding history of wasteful use of taxpayer funds. For starters, the agency spent $6,976.50 in 2008 buying shirts for employees while botching the purchase order and having 263 shirts leftover.
 
Perhaps the worst example of poor management was two hiring discrimination lawsuits, one of which paid the applicant a “substantial monetary settlement” with taxpayer money.
 
The federal agency spends over 50 percent of its budget on administrative costs. In fact, the EAC’s budget request for 2012 devoted 51.7 percent of its allocation to management and overhead costs, meaning the agency would use $5,406,718 to manage programs totaling $3,486,601.
 
This week, members of the House of Representatives have an opportunity to eliminate this agency and reduce wasteful spending by supporting H.R. 672, a bill I introduced that would save taxpayers $33 million over five years. This legislation implements a call by the National Association of Secretaries of State to dissolve the EAC, and would transfer the commission’s remaining valuable service – its voting system testing and certification program – to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which is better equipped to perform these functions efficiently.
 
By eliminating the EAC, House Republicans are furthering our commitment to driving down spending and shrinking the size of the federal government. If Congress is not responsible enough to dissolve a federal program that has fulfilled its purpose, how can the American people have any confidence that lawmakers will address the larger financial woes facing our country?

Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) serves as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Elections for the House Administration Committee.