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1 1 (May 8, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govelnq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the Iegislative debate since 1914 Updated May 8, 2023 Election Security: Federal Funding for Securing Election Systems Foreign efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections highlighted the potential for threats to the technologies, facilities, and processes used to administer elections. The federal government has responded to such threats, in part, by proposing and providing funding that can be used to help secure election systems. This In Focus offers an overview of federal funding for election system security. It starts by describing funding Congress and federal agencies have made available since the 2016 elections for securing election technologies, facilities, and processes. It then summarizes legislative proposals to authorize or appropriate further funding. The In Focus does not cover funding for addressing threats to election workers or the health and safety risks to voters and election officials posed by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. For more on federal funding proposed or provided for those purposes, see CRS Insight IN11831, Election Worker Safety and Privacy, by Sarah J. Eckman and Karen L. Shanton; and CRS Report R46646, Election Administration: Federal Grant Funding for States and Localities, by Karen L. Shanton. Federal Funding States, territories, and localities have primary responsibility for securing elections, but federal agencies also play a role in helping identify and address election system threats and vulnerabilities. Since the 2016 elections, Congress has provided funding that can be used to help secure election systems both to states, territories, and the District of Columbia (DC) and to federal agencies. Agencies have also designated some of the funding they have received for more general purposes for activities related to election system security. Funding for States, Territories, and DC The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA; P.L. 107- 252) established a grant program for making certain general improvements to election administration. Congress has included funding for that grant program in multiple regular appropriations acts since the 2016 elections: $380 million, $425 million, $75 million, and $75 million, respectively, in the consolidated appropriations acts for FY2018 (P.L. 115- 141), FY2020 (P.L. 116-93), FY2022 (P.L. 117-103), and FY2023 (P.L. 117-328). All four rounds of funding were available to the 50 states, DC, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the FY2020, FY2022, and FY2023 funds were also available to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The appropriations acts made the HAVA funding broadly available for general improvements to the administration of federal elections, including improvements to election technology and security. Explanatory statements accompanying the FY2018 and FY2020 acts also explicitly listed the following as permissible uses of the funds: * replacing paperless voting equipment, * implementing post-election audits, * addressing cyber vulnerabilities in election systems, * providing election officials with cybersecurity training, * instituting election system cybersecurity best practices, and * making other improvements to the security of federal elections. Each eligible recipient was guaranteed a minimum amount under each of the above appropriations acts, with some entitled to additional funds based on voting-age population (see Table 1 for the total amount available to each eligible recipient under all four acts). The 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico have been required to provide a 5% match for the FY2018 funding and a 20% match for the FY2020, FY2022, and FY2023 funds. All recipients have also been expected to submit plans for use of the funding to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and report to the agency on their spending. According to the EAC, which is charged with administering the funds, just over $874 million of the $880 million available for FY2018, FY2020, and FY2022 had been distributed to the states, territories, and DC as of March 15, 2023. Spending plans and budgets for the FY2023 funds were due to the agency on February 28, 2023. In addition to the HAVA funding Congress designated specifically for elections activities, some funding has also been available for securing election systems under more general purpose grant programs. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has encouraged recipients of its State and Local Cybersecurity Grants to include election officials on their Cybersecurity Planning Committees, for example, and required FY2023 State Homeland Security Program and Urban Area Security Initiative grantees to allocate a share of their funds to enhancing election security. For more on some of those grant programs, see CRS Report R44669, Department of Homeland Security Preparedness Grants: A Summary and Issues, by Shawn Reese. Funding for Federal Agencies Various federal agencies play a role in helping secure election systems. The EAC is dedicated to election administration, for example, and DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has taken on new

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