The Center for Tech and Civic Life released the following statement after the Senate passed a $3.5 trillion budget bill that does not contain election infrastructure funding to bolster physical and cybersecurity measures in local election departments.

“While we fell short this week, we are grateful for our champions, in particular Sen. Klobuchar and Leader Hoyer, who showed they understand the challenges and needs of local election departments. Over the last year, we have heard from election officials doing heroic work to keep our elections safe, inclusive, and secure all while working with crumbling infrastructure — voting machines older than the iPhone and some who don’t even have money for Internet service or ‘vote here’ signs,” said Tiana Epps-Johnson, executive director for the Center for Tech and Civic Life. “Unfortunately, this bill does not address the neglect we now see every election following years of underinvestment from the federal government in our election infrastructure. The longer Congress waits to fund our election departments, the more challenging it will be for election officials and voters heading into 2022. We will redouble our efforts to make the case for robust federal funding of local election administration to ensure everyone can hold safe, secure and accessible elections in 2022 and beyond.”

The lack of funding for election departments comes as election officials wrestle with two ongoing challenges: physical security and COVID-19. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin warning of “an increase in calls for violence online tied to election-related conspiracy theories,” a reminder that election officials are under threat like never before. Meanwhile, the Delta variant of COVID-19 has surged since last fall. According to the CDC, the daily average case count of 92,000 COVID cases exceeds the case count on Nov. 2, 2020.

A poll found strong bipartisan support for the federal government to provide funding to local election departments. A July 29 poll commissioned by Secure Democracy and Protect Democracy found strong bipartisan agreement (79 percent) that the federal government should ensure local officials have equal access to funds for election security upgrades.

Previously, a bipartisan group of state and local officials from around the country called on Congress to allocate $20 billion in funding to local and state election administrators for secure election infrastructure over the next 10 years. The letters included:

• A letter signed by 10 Secretaries of State—including Secretary Steve Simon (D-Minnesota) and Secretary Kim Wyman (R-Washington)
• A letter led by Mayor Tom Barrett (D-Milwaukee, WI) and Mayor John Giles (R-Mesa, AZ) signed by over 50 mayors across the country.
• A third letter, led by the Election Infrastructure Initiative, was signed by over 250 bipartisan local and state elected officials and election administrators from around the country.

According to the Associated Press, many election departments are still running elections on outdated Windows 7 software — a consequence of the chronic lack of consistent funding. Federal election infrastructure funding will bolster election security and resilience which improves voter confidence in our system. With federal funding, election departments will be able to make urgently-needed modernizations, including:

• Replacing outdated voting machines
• Upgrading voter registration databases and websites
• Investing in election management equipment, including ballot sorters, envelope openers and stuffers, and ballot verification technology
• Upgrading local election management systems, including software
• Investing in physical infrastructure (including real estate) to allow local election jurisdictions to provide early, mail and in-person voting opportunities, and maintain secure facilities for storage of election equipment and materials
• Bolstering systems to execute election audits
• Strengthening cybersecurity posture

While robust public funding is the best way to fund elections, at least eight states have passed new laws preventing local election departments from accepting private grants for election administration. That means without additional funding from Congress, many election departments will have fewer resources than before to ensure safe and secure elections.

Funding could not come at a more critical time.  According to one recent study, as many as a quarter of local election officials in some of the nation’s largest voting jurisdictions are planning to retire before the 2024 election. Funding can help with staffing and training to manage and maintain our election systems just as election jurisdictions grapple with a wave of potential retirements and loss of institutional knowledge.

If you want to learn more about why federal funding for local election officials is so critical, listen to Tiana Epps-Johnson on the Battleground podcast here. Read more about the Election Infrastructure Initiative here.

The Center for Tech and Civic Life is a nonpartisan nonprofit harnessing the promise of technology to modernize the American voting experience. We connect Americans with the information they need to become and remain civically engaged, and ensure that our elections are more professional, inclusive, and secure.