Centre County is anticipating more than $500,000 in election funding from the state for the second year in a row.
The county Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to apply for the Elections Integrity Grant Program authorized by Pennsylvania’s Act 88, which was signed into law in August 2022 and allocated $45 million for counties statewide. Centre County received $540,987.73 during the first year of funding and is expecting roughly the same amount again in 2023, according to Beth Lechman, director of elections and voting registration.
“We won’t know what the [exact] amount of the grant is until we have the determination from the state,” Lechman said. “It’s based on our voter registration, and it did go down slightly in January when we did our cancellation of all the five-year inactive voters.”
The funding will be used for the period of Sep. 1, 2023, to Aug. 31, 2024 and will cover expenses for the November 2023 election and the May 2024 primary election. The grant money can be used for a variety of purposes, including costs related to voter registration, staffing, Election Day operations, equipment security and reporting.
Centre County’s 2023 budget for elections is $1.3 million.
Board of Commissioners Chair Mark Higgins stated that he was thankful for the state covering some of the costs that come with elections.
“County commissioners across the commonwealth do appreciate the state legislature for reimbursing us for at least a portion of the cost of elections,” he said. “The cost of that has been on the county taxpayer for 221 years, so we do appreciate the support.”
While funding is available to all 67 Pennsylvania counties, they must apply to receive it (four chose not to in 2022) and it does come with some requirements. Counties must begin pre-canvassing — the process of opening and preparing mail-in and absentee ballots — at 7 a.m. on Election Day and continue without interruption until completed. Once the polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, they are required to count all mail-in and absentee ballots received without interruption until the count is complete.
The law does not allow counties to begin pre-canvassing before Election Day
Counties also have additional reporting requirements, including posting on their websites by 12:01 a.m. after the election an unofficial number of mail and absentee ballots received, and submitting to the Secretary of State for posting on the Department of State website the “outcome of any post-election audit required under the election code.”
Lechman said Centre County met the grant requirements during the first year of funding.
