As used in this part, the term—

Commission means the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 42 U.S.C. 15301 et seq.

Commissioner means an individual appointed to the Commission by the President and confirmed by the Senate under section 203 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 42 U.S.C. 15323.

Executive Director means the Executive Director of the Commission or his or her designee.

General Counsel means the General Counsel of the Commission or his or her designee.

Meeting means the deliberations of at least three Commissioners where such deliberations determine or result in the joint conduct or disposition of official Commission business. A deliberation conducted through telephone or similar communications equipment in which all persons participating can hear each other shall be considered a meeting. For the purposes of this section, “joint conduct” does not include situations where the requisite number of members is physically present in one place but not conducting agency business as a body. In addition, the term “meeting” does not include a process of notation voting by circulated memorandum for the purpose of expediting consideration of official Commission business. The term “meeting” also does not include deliberations on whether to:

(1) Schedule a meeting;

(2) Hold a meeting with less than seven days notice, as provided in §9407.4(e);

(3) Change the subject matter of a publicly announced meeting or the determination of the Commission to open or close a meeting or portions of a meeting to public observation, as provided in §9407.4(f);

(4) Change the time or place of an announced meeting, as provided in §9407.4(g);

(5) Close a meeting or portions of a meeting, as provided in §9407.5; or

(6) Withhold from disclosure information pertaining to a meeting or portions of a meeting, as provided in §9407.5.

Public observation means attendance by one or more members of the public at a meeting of the Commission but does not include participation in the meeting.

Public participation means the presentation or discussion of information, raising of questions, or other manner of involvement in a meeting of the Commission by one or more members of the public in a manner that contributes to the disposition of Commission business.