The new challenge for state election officials? How much hand sanitizer is enough

For its earlier elections, Michigan’s Secretary of State’s Office sent out PPE in “state delivery trucks” and via UPS and plans to do the same in November, according to Jake Rollow, director of communications and external affairs for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. 

But distributing the PPE is just one of the challenges. State election officials are also trying to determine how much equipment to get to each county, a figure that depends on the amount of funding available and a range of other factors. 

In March, Congress allocated $400 million to the Election Assistance Commission to provide states with grants “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, for the 2020 Federal election cycle.” 

According to a breakdown of the funding, almost all states and territories, as well as the District of Columbia, received either the amount they requested or slightly more in funding from the CARES Act.

Most states are not yet sure how much of this funding will specifically go toward PPE, but initial costs reveal that it can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Minnesota has spent over $330,000 on PPE for its upcoming elections in August and November, according to Risikat Adesaogun, press secretary and deputy communications director at the Minnesota secretary of state’s office. That sum provides more than 50,000 masks for poll workers, more than 225,000 disposable masks for voters who show up without one, and 8,000 gallons of hand sanitizer, Adesaogun said. 

Election officials in Vermont expect to spend about $60,000 on PPE for the November election, said Eric Covey, chief of staff to the secretary of state’s office, adding that he expects another $10,000 to be spent on protective shields.

State and local officials have been urging Congress to appropriate more money, contending funds are rapidly depleting. 

“It’s looking like I spent close to 60% of my CARES Act funding on the primary election,” Jared Dearing, executive director of the Kentucky State Board of Elections, said late last month. “To put that in context, we are expecting turnout to go from 30%, which was a record high for a primary election, to as much as 70%.”

But as negotiations over the latest coronavirus stimulus bill intensify, Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain at odds over election spending. 

House Democrats in May proposed an additional $3.6 billion to go toward helping state and local officials carry out elections this year. But the Republican-led Senate proposal had no election funding, and it is unclear if the two sides have moved closer in the latest talks. 

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/10/coronavirus-distributing-masks-and-sanitizer-a-challenge-for-2020-election.html