Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ees Release topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
EAC unveils 2024 EES toplines at 2025 data summit; agency outlines modernization plans
Summary
At a May 2025 summit at MIT, the Election Assistance Commission presented topline findings from the 2024 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EES), highlighted high paper‑ballot use and rising e‑poll book adoption, and outlined working groups and interactive tools to reduce survey burden and improve data quality.
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Friday presented key findings from the 2024 Election Administration and Voting Survey and sketched next steps to modernize the bianual instrument.
EAC Chairman Donald Palmer opened the 2025 Data Summit at MIT by thanking state and local officials for what he described as a "100% response rate" to the 2024 EES and urging the community to use the data to spot trends and gaps in election administration. Raymond Williams, the EAC's director of research, shared the survey's high‑level results and a newly published 2004–2022 retrospective dataset.
Among toplines the EAC highlighted: a reported shift in voting modes back toward in‑person voting (the presentation cited roughly 37% election‑day in‑person and about 35% early in‑person voting), a turnout figure presented near 65% for 2024, near‑universal use of paper ballots or a paper audit trail, and an increased deployment of electronic poll books (the slide cited about 40% of jurisdictions). Williams also noted the agency will publish state briefs and an interactive data tool in the weeks following the summit.
Panelists said the survey remains valuable but burdensome. Fors Marsh Group researcher Lindsay Nielson and others described repeated working groups that surfaced inconsistent terminology, data‑entry categories that don't map to local practices, and the difficulty some jurisdictions face when election management systems lack the fields EES requests. To address those concerns the EAC said it plans targeted working groups for sections B–F of the form, experiments with using public data to validate submissions, and pre‑population to reduce respondent workload.
The agency urged continued collaboration with election offices. "This information helps election officials, policy makers, researchers, and the public know how elections are run," Chairman Palmer said during his opening remarks. The EAC staff and partners also signaled additional deliverables — state one‑page briefs, interactive visualizations and outreach to states ahead of the 2026 cycle — aimed at making the data easier to use.
What happens next: the EAC will continue working groups and publish the state briefs and interactive dataset cited at the summit; state and local officials told the panel they expect guidance on definitions and examples tailored to differing state systems.
