CHICAGO -- The Election Infrastructure Initiative released the following statement applauding President Biden for investing in election departments in his new budget.

The budget proposes $1.625 billion in the first year and $375 million per year thereafter. This is the third year in a row that the Biden Administration has proposed a substantial investment in election infrastructure. 

“Once again, the White House has demonstrated they understand the need for long-term, sustained investment of federal funding for local election departments, said Tiana Epps-Johnson, executive director for the Center for Tech and Civic Life. “This funding helps local election departments afford the basic needs that support secure, accessible elections, from secure facilities to voting equipment and adequate staff. Congress should follow the administration’s lead and prioritize funding for local election departments.”

According to a recent study from MIT, public spending on election services ranks near the bottom, about the same as what local governments spend on parking facilities.

The Department of Homeland Security in 2017 officially designated election infrastructure as “part of the existing Government Facilities critical infrastructure sector.” DHS noted that election infrastructure “is vital to our national interests, and cyberattacks on this country are becoming more sophisticated, and bad cyber actors – ranging from nation-states, cybercriminals and hacktivists – are becoming more sophisticated and dangerous.”

Unfortunately, despite the designation from DHS, the federal government does not consistently fund local election departments.  

Previously, EII rallied a bipartisan group of state and local officials from around the country that called on Congress to allocate funding to local and state election administrators for secure election infrastructure.

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.

The Institute for Responsive Government is a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to ensuring state and federal governments work effectively for the very people they serve. IRG provides data, research and expertise to elected officials in order to find practical policy solutions that make government systems more efficient, accessible, and responsive.

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