County officials ask Congress to provide additional funding to administer and secure elections

Key Takeaways

On July 22, the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee held a hearing to discuss state and local efforts for the 2020 general election. Prior to the hearing, members of NACo’s Elections Subcommittee sent a letter to members of the committee and Congressional leadership urging that additional funding be provided for counties to strengthen, protect and secure the nation’s election system ahead of the 2020 election cycle.

In the letter, NACo’s Elections Subcommittee highlights the critical role counties play in the funding and administration of our nation’s elections. Across our nation, county election officials oversee 109,000 polling locations and coordinate 694,000 poll workers every two years. These officials also traditionally oversee the hiring and training of these workers and prepare for “hard security” challenges at polling locations, such as mitigating a natural disaster or establishing protocols for an active shooter situation.

However, the effects from the COVID-19 pandemic have presented counties with added and unforeseen responsibilities. These costly duties include the provision of additional voting methods as well as the need to keep polling places sanitized and in compliance with social distancing requirements. Given the current and expected budget shortfalls experienced by counties across the country, counties will need this increased funding in order to address each of these new challenges.

Ensuring safe and secure elections has been and continues to be a top priority for county election officials. These officials work tirelessly to protect against data breaches of voter rolls, tampering of county election websites, voter fraud at polling places and other security risks. Due to the efforts and actions taken by county election staffs on a daily basis, voter fraud is essentially non-existent in the U.S.

While counties applaud Congress for their bipartisan work to deliver essential election-related resources through the CARES Act, some of these funds remained at the state level and have not assisted counties in their efforts to administer and secure elections. Therefore, counties strongly urge lawmakers that any new funds be administered either in coordination or consultation with local governments or be made directly available to local governments.

County officials continue to serve on the front lines of election administration and security efforts as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional federal funding is crucial for them to continue to provide these much-needed services to their communities.

To read the letter, click here.