Though funding has been increased to make election workers and voters more secure during the Nov. 8 midterms, most has not been spent, largely because officials are unaware it is available.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. held a virtual meeting with election officials and workers from across the country earlier this month to let them know about untapped federal grant money, but much of the news is coming either too late or the process is too cumbersome, officials told CNN.
"Our security here is a joke," said Scott McDonell, county clerk for Dane County, Wisconsin, and a Democrat.
His office sits just a block from the state capitol building in Madison, the site of massive protests to the 2020 elections.
McDonnell told CNN that anyone "could walk right in" and confront him. An April report by the Department of Homeland Security of McDonell's office found doors that could allow visitors to pass easily through without being checked.
But McDonnell was not aware of a DHS grant program that provides millions of dollars to be spent for security at state and local offices until the news organization told him about it.
"A lot of times they're not even aware that this funding is available or who they need to talk to be able to get some of these funds for election security needs, Derek Tisler of the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice told CNN.
But even when applied for, the grant requests often get stuck in bureaucratic red tape. They must be sent through state homeland security offices rather than straight to DHS.
Another issue is state interference.
"Oftentimes we see a breakdown where states will receive the funds and they won't make it to the locals," Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told CNN. "And that then makes it harder for us to get the federal funding in future rounds because it doesn’t always reach where it has to reach."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.