Charleston, W.Va. (Hinton News) – On Monday, West Virginia’s State Election Commission (SEC) approved the latest round of Help America Vote Act (HAVA) grant applications filed by counties to further bolster election security and purchase new equipment. The bipartisan SEC voted unanimously on Monday to distribute $970,000 of grant money between all 24 counties that applied this grant cycle.
County recipients are Barbour, Berkeley, Braxton, Cabell, Doddridge, Fayette, Grant, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Monongalia, Putnam, Ritchie, Tucker, Upshur, Wayne, Wirt, and Wood. Over the past four years, the SEC has approved over $3.9 million of HAVA funding for the state’s 55 counties. Since 2017, with state and county matching funds, WV has leveraged over $15 million in upgrades to election security and infrastructure. HAVA money is provided by Congress and assists counties with offsetting the financial burden of upgrading essential election technology and physical security.
“West Virginia continues to lead the country in election security, in part, because we are using the latest technology that is not connected to the internet,” said WV Secretary of State Mac Warner. “Federal, state, and local officials are all working together in West Virginia to assist all 55 counties with replacing old voting equipment and aging technology.”
Combined with state funding provided by the West Virginia legislature and local funding from county commissions, federal HAVA funds have been used to purchase state-of-the-art ballot marking devices that are ADA accessible for voters with disabilities. West Virginia’s ballot marking devices print voters’ selections on auditable paper ballots that are tabulated after the close of polls on Election Day, a percentage of which are audited manually for accuracy at canvass before certification. By law, no voting equipment in West Virginia can contain a modem or have the capability to connect to any network.
Applications for this grant cycle were split almost evenly between purchasing additional equipment and electronic poll books. Additional equipment deployed on Election Day reduces wait times at the polling place and provides backups in cases of an emergency or malfunction. Electronic poll books speed up voter check-in, especially during early voting, and increase the accuracy of updating voter records for participation history.
“I am proud to work with all 55 county clerks, their county commissions, the legislature, and our congressional delegation to secure funding to keep our elections safe and secure,” said Secretary Warner. Voters in all 1,659 precincts throughout West Virginia should be confident that their votes are accurately counted on election day after being cast on auditable voter-verified paper ballots.”
The 2024 General Election will be held on November 5. For more information on important election dates and deadlines, refer to the bottom of the GoVoteWV.com homepage.
