COUNTY ELECTION GRANTS

HELENA—Today Secretary of State Brad Johnson announced more than $800,000 in grants to county election offices to help with the 2008 election season. The grants will pay for election judges, election security procedures, and maintenance of AutoMARK accessible voting machines.

“I’ve visited with county election officials across Montana, and this is what they asked for,” Johnson said.  “Montana’s elections are among the cleanest, fairest in the country, and local election officials know best what it takes to keep them that way.  We listened, and now we’re providing what was asked for.”

Johnson is in the process of a listening tour to hear from all 56 county Clerks and Recorders and election administrators.  He said these funding concerns were expressed almost universally by the local officials.

Under the AutoMARK maintenance grant, counties submit an invoice for their expenses related to supporting these machines in order to receive the grants. The statewide total for those grants is $207,300. For the election judge grants, each county receives $500 for the June primary and $500 for the November general election to pay election judges, who receive a stipend set by the county government. The statewide total for those grants is $112,000. For election security grants, counties need to submit a narrative of the steps they will take to improve security, for grants that can total up to $5,000. The election security grants could total up to $280,000 for all 56 counties.

“My position as Secretary of State has always been that the county election officials know the system best.  They’re the ones who do the hardest work, and who see the concerns of voters up close. I’m grateful to all the Clerks and Recorders and election administrators who’ve taken time so far to meet with me, and I thank them doubly for being so open about their needs.”

###