English joins federal elections board

Kootenai County Clerk Dan English was elected Thursday to a nine-member national elections board, which reviews proposed standards for federal elections.

“It’s good for Idaho to have a voice,” said English, the county’s lone elected Democrat. “National election issues touch everyone, including voters in Kootenai County.”

English has been one of Idaho’s two members of the larger U.S. Election Assistance Commission Standards Board since it was created as part of the Help American Vote Act of 2002. Congress passed the act in reaction to the 2000 presidential election when debate over voting equipment and ballot design erupted.

That commission, with 110 members, elected English to the smaller executive board during its annual meeting in Atlanta. He said the leadership board does hands-on, in-depth review of election standard proposals or research into voting or voting equipment.

English said he campaigned on ensuring that rural states like Idaho have adequate representation. For more information, go to the commission’s Web site at www.eac.gov.