CHICAGO -- Election Infrastructure Initiative leaders released the following statement in reaction to the Senate Financial Services and General Government committee releasing a unanimous budget proposal that includes $75 million in federal funding for election departments.

“This budget proposal from the Senate is a recognition that there is a clear federal role to play in funding state and local election departments,” said Tiana Epps-Johnson, executive director for the Center for Tech and Civic Life. “This budget proposal also includes a critical win, by prioritizing funding to go directly to local election departments, who know how to budget in a way that provides the best voter experience possible. We’re hopeful that through partnership between the House and Senate, we can get to consistent and predictable funding for election offices heading into the next election.”

“More than 1,000 local election officials from both parties asked Congress to boost funding this year and the Senate has heard them and taken corrective action when the House proposed eliminating funding,” said Sam Oliker-Friedland, executive director of the Institute for Responsive Government. “This budget proposal does not solve the long-term funding crisis that local election officials face, but it is a step in the right direction by maintaining a federal funding pipeline. Senate leadership must prioritize this funding heading into the fall budget fight.”

Previously, Congress allocated funding of $75 million in last year’s budget. 
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.  

The Election Infrastructure Initiative (EII) has estimated election funding needs at $53 billion over 10 years. That includes $49.3 billion needed for election administration and operations, $1.8 billion needed to replace antiquated voting machines, $935 million needed to update statewide voter registration systems, $256 million to bolster post-election audits and $999 million for cybersecurity improvements and maintenance.

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.