Counties ask Congress to increase funding for election security

Key Takeaways

As lawmakers work to reach a deal ahead of the December 20 government funding deadline, NACo sent a letter to U.S. Senate and House leadership urging members to provide increased funding for elections security as they negotiate spending levels for FY 2020 appropriations. In the letter, NACo expressed support for funding to strengthen the integrity and safety of our nation’s elections system above the proposed $250 million provided in S. 2524, the Senate-passed FY 2020 Financial Services appropriations bill.

This funding is vital for county governments, who traditionally administer and fund elections at the local level. Across the country, counties oversee more than 109,000 polling locations and coordinate more than 694,00 poll workers every two years. We also work closely with federal, state and other local elections officials to ensure the highest levels of safety, security and integrity in our elections.

However, as security threats to elections diversify, a strong intergovernmental partnership is necessary to combat and meet these new challenges, including increasingsed federal and state mandates. To that end, counties strongly support increased and consistent federal funding to support election administration. It is our recommendation that such funding be above the $250 million level set in the Senate, and that guidelines be instituted to ensure county governments have direct access to these resources.

NACo urges county officials to contact your Representatives and Senators and ask them to support increased funding for election security. We will continue to work with congressional appropriators to ensure counties have adequate funding to administer the 2020 elections.

To read the letter, please click here.