Supporting Statement 0706 (revised)

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR THE

HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT (HAVA)

OMB No. 0960-0706

1. Justification

1. Introduction/Authoring Laws and Regulations

On October 29, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law H.R. 3295, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA; later P.L. 107-252), which mandates that States must verify the identities of newly registered voters.

Section 303 of the law specifies an area requiring the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) involvement. Specifically, when newly registered voters do not have driver’s licenses or State-issued identification (ID) cards, they must supply the last four digits of their Social Security Numbers (SSN) to their local State election agencies for verification. The election agencies forward the new registrant candidate’s name, date of birth (DOB), and the last four digits of his or her SSN to the candidate’s State Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). The State MVAs input and route the data to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) as a consolidation point for data transfer. AAMVA forwards the transactions to SSA’s Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) system. Once SSA’s HAVV system verifies if the information provided is a “match” or “no match,” the information will return along the same route (in reverse) until it reaches the State election agency.

2. Description of Collection

When newly registered voters do not have drivers’ licenses or State-issued ID cards, they must supply the last four digits of their Social Security Number to their local State election agencies for verification. The election agencies forward this information to their State Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA), who inputs the data into the American Association of MVAs, a central consolidation system that routes the voter data to SSA’s Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) system. Once SSA’s HAVV system has confirmed identity of the voter, the information will return along the same route in reverse until it reaches the State election agency. The official respondents for this collection are the State MVAs.

SSA requires State MVAs to use AAMVA as a consolidation point for data transfer. The MVA inputs this data, routing the applicant’s information to the AAMVA network hub. AAMVA forwards the transaction to SSA’s HAVV system. SSA will return the result (a “match” or “no match” of name, DOB, and last four digits of an SSN) to the AAMVA hub and then the State MVA, who will send it to the State election agency.

SSA does not collect individual identifying information during these transactions. It only verifies the accuracy of the information provided using the following response codes:

Response Code	Definition
S	Invalid Data
T	Multi Matches All Deceased
V	Multi Matches All Alive
W	Multi Matches Mixed
X	Single Match Alive
Y	Single Match Deceased
Z	No Match Found
9	System Error:  Unable to Process at this Time

3. Use of Information Technology to Collect the Information

In accordance with the agency’s Government Paperwork Elimination Act plan, SSA created an Internet version of HAVA. Based on our data, we estimate approximately 100% of respondents under this OMB number use the electronic version.

4. Why We Cannot Use Duplicate Information

The nature of the information we are collecting and the manner in which we are collecting it preclude duplication. SSA does not use another collection instrument to obtain similar data.

5. Minimizing Burden on Small Respondents

This collection does not affect small businesses or other small entities.

6. Consequence of Not Collecting Information or Collecting it Less Frequently

If we did not verify the identities of newly registered voters, we would be in violation of the HAVA legislation. Because we only collect the information on an as needed basis, we cannot collect it less frequently.

There are no technical or legal obstacles to burden reduction.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances that would cause SSA to conduct this information collection in a manner inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. Solicitation of Public Comment and Other Consultations with the Public

The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice published on April 23, 2014, at

79 FR 22752, and we received no public comments. The 30-day FRN published on July 23, 2014 at 79 FR 42863. If we receive any comments in response to this Notice, we will forward them to OMB. We did not consult with members of the public in the maintenance of this information collection.

Note: This is a correction notice: SSA published the incorrect burden information for this collection at 79 FR 37828 on 7/02/14. We are correcting this error here.

9. Payment or Gifts to Respondents

SSA does not provide payments or gifts to the respondents.

9. Assurances of Confidentiality

SSA protects and holds confidential the information it collects in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1306, 20 CFR 401 and 402, 5 U.S.C. 552 (Freedom of Information Act), 5 U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act of 1974), and OMB Circular No. A-130.

9. Justification for Sensitive Questions

The information collection does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.

9. Estimates of Public Reporting Burden

Modality of Completion	Number of Respondents	Frequency of Response	Average Burden Per Response (minutes)	Estimated Total Annual Burden (hours)
HAVV	4,878,239	1	2	162,608

Forty-Eight State MVAs participate in HAVA via signed Information Exchange Agreements with SSA. In fiscal year (FY) 2013, 39 of those 48 State MVAs submitted requests to SSA. Approximately 4,878,239 respondents took 2 minutes each to complete each HAVV request. Accordingly, the burden is 162,608 hours. This figure represents burden hours, and we do not calculate a separate cost burden.

13. Annual Cost to the Respondents (other)

The 48 State MVAs participating in HAVA each pay an annual maintenance cost of $4,000.00. Additionally, States pay .02 cents per verification request. In FY 2013, the total cost to respondents was therefore $289,564.78.

13. Annual Cost to the Federal Government

This collection does not pose a recognizable cost to the Federal Government, because we bill States (via AAMVA) for using our HAVV system.

13. Program Changes or Adjustments to the Information Collection Budget

There has been an increase in burden hours. This change stems from an increase in the number of respondents using the HAVV system.

13. Plans for Publication Information Collection Results

SSA will not publish the results of the information collection.

17. Displaying the OMB Expiration Date

SSA is not requesting an exception to the requirement to display the OMB approval expiration date .

17. Exceptions to Certification Statement

SSA is not requesting an exception to the certification requirements at 5 CFR 1320.9 and related provisions at 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

2. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

SSA does not use statistical methods for this information collection.

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