State and local election officials do difficult jobs under extreme pressure to keep our democracy running. And they do it well! Election officials work day and night to keep our voting systems secure, and we can count on them to do it again this year, but Congress needs to step up to support them. And so far this year, Congress has shown up months late and millions of dollars short.
The other week, Congress appropriated just $55 million in election security grant funding for this fiscal year. Every little bit helps, and these funds will help election officials improve their cyber and physical security posture for the 2024 elections. But $55 million — just $1 million per state/territory — is simply not enough to meet the need. It is vital that Congress listen to state and local election officials and provide them the resources they are requesting to continue doing their jobs efficiently and securely.
Election funding has been an area for bipartisan agreement in both the House and Senate during this otherwise fractious Congress. And the American people support robust federal investment in election security. In a national poll commissioned by Issue One, 69% of Americans believe that the federal government should be equally, if not more, responsible than state and local governments when it comes to funding elections.
Physical threats against election officials, potential foreign interference, and now the emerging dangers of artificial intelligence all threaten to erode trust in our voting processes. The dedicated professionals who run our elections are now on the frontlines of a struggle against foreign state and non-state adversaries with sophisticated methods at their disposal to disrupt our elections, while having to make difficult decisions with the limited resources at their disposal. Marion County, Florida Elections Supervisor Wesley Wilcox, for example, lacks the funding to buy a software subscription for an antivirus program and has made clear that the inconsistency and insufficiency of federal elections funding poses “an extreme challenge” for American elections.
Now, more than ever, we must listen to the election officials who have been requesting adequate federal financial support to continue administering safe and secure elections. Russia has already begun its attack on the upcoming election, using thousands of fraudulent social media profiles to propagate misinformation related to President Joe Biden and other candidates.
China is also increasingly attempting to interfere with U.S. politics, seeking to sway narratives in favor of pro-Beijing attitudes. China has spent more than any other foreign adversary, over $280 million over the past six years, in media and social media to target U.S. elections. A recent report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detailed China’s use of TikTok accounts to target candidates during the 2022 midterms. In previous cycles, China has deployed influence operations at the local and state level as a way to impact national politics.
In 2017, in the wake of Russian efforts to destabilize public faith in the U.S. democratic process, the Department of Homeland Security designated election systems as “critical infrastructure.” In the years since, Congress has acted in a bipartisan manner to invest in election administration and security in response to these threats. During former President Donald Trump’s administration, Congress appropriated $805 million to support local election officials. In each of the last two years, Congress has provided just $75 million for this essential program. A start, but not enough. Now, Congress has sent just $55 million during a critical election year. How can we be the gold standard of global democracy if our election infrastructure remains chronically underfunded?
Elections in the U.S. can be contentious and partisan, but the administration of election systems and their security must not be. Conspiracy theories about the integrity of our elections, spread largely by domestic actors seeking partisan political advantage, have weakened the American people’s trust in their democracy. Foreign adversaries have repeatedly stepped in to exploit this divide in an effort to weaken our national resolve.
It is long past time for Congress to act on election security funding. Supporting our election officials is a matter of national security, and we must treat our election system as the critical infrastructure that the Department of Homeland Security has recognized it to be. Partisanship and complacency are no longer options, and we need our elected leaders to step up to the plate and make sure that our elections and the people running them are able to handle whatever comes their way in 2024 and beyond.
Nick Penniman is CEO of Issue One, a bipartisan group that seeks to fix our political system and build an inclusive democracy.