Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Elections require more consistent federal funding, per report

North Carolina primary election workers

Election workers await voters in Cary, N.C., on Tuesday. Their salaries are one of many expenses lines in local election officials' budgets.

Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

Elections are the central pillar around which a democratic republic is built — the manifestation of citizen representation in government. And yet, local governments put the funding of election administration on par with parking garages, and the federal government only chips in when there’s a crisis.

That’s the conclusion drawn from “ The Cost of Conducting Elections,” a new report issued by the National Institute of Civil Discourse’s Common Sense American program in conjunction with the MIT Election Data and Science Lab.

This report examines the challenges and sources of election funding, focusing on the past 20 years. It also considers the role of the federal government in election funding and recommends a more consistent model for financial support.


Elections incur both short- and long-term costs. Yearly costs include printing of ballots and information materials, salaries of temporary election staff, rental of polling places, and postage for mailed materials. Longer-term costs focus on maintaining election infrastructure and include maintenance of the voter registration database, testing and securing voting equipment and computer systems, and training election officials.

Local governments bear most of the fiscal burden of running elections, totals that can be difficult to calculate given the variety of ways state and local governments develop budgets and account for spending. Still, based on a variety of sources such as research conducted by the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and a paper prepared by the Election Infrastructure Initiative, the report estimates that local governments spend about $5 billion each year on elections.

This makes up a miniscule percentage of the $2 trillion local governments spend per year—about on par with the amount spent on managing public parking facilities.

That’s one of the reasons “election administrators have described themselves as the least powerful lobby in state legislatures and often the last constituency to receive funds at the local level,” according to a 2014 report issued by the Presidential Commission on Election Administration.

Though local governments are largely responsible, state governments often contribute to election spending. A few states, such as Alaska and Delaware take primary responsibility for running and paying for elections, while others contribute funds proportional to the number of state offices on the ballot. One important task that falls to states is maintaining a statewide voter registration system. Additionally, though states sometimes help with the costs of new voting equipment, replacing outdated voting equipment is often difficult as few state or local governments have funds specifically earmarked for capital purchases.

The federal government also provides money for elections, although such funds accounted for only about 4 percent of election spending between 2003 and 2020. Federal funding thus far has been crisis-based. In the last 20 years, money has been allocated three times — through 2002’s Help America Vote Act, which approved funding to improve election administration; the money appropriated by Congress in 2018 for election cybersecurity in light of concerns raised about the 2016 election; and via the 2020 CARES Act, which offered funding to offset additional costs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, including expanding early and mail-in voting and enacting health safety measures at polling places.

These additional pandemic-related costs were also covered through philanthropic efforts, including flexible donations from sources such as Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation and Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as in-kind donations such hand sanitizer and the use of stadiums for social-distanced voting. According to the report, some states have banned private assistance, and have not replaced this funding with increased state appropriations.

NICD’s research focuses on federal funds, considering several arguments about whether the federal government should play a larger role in election funding. The main argument against election spending by the federal government is that elections are “strictly a state matter.” The report then offers several rebuttals to this idea:

First, the federal government should cover some costs because it requires that states hold elections and has imposed additional costs through mandates through legislation such as the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act and National Voter Registration Act. Indeed, elections have been referred to as the first unfunded federal mandate, per the report. Next, about half of all voters say they are “federal-only” voters who often fail to cast ballots in state- or local-only elections. Finally, foreign interference in elections has emerged as a national security threat.

The report presents several ideas for increasing federal election funding:

  • Instead of being crisis-based, it could be based on a set rule, such as an amount equal to one-third of election costs.
  • It could be based on the amount of space federal offices occupy on ballots, known as ballot “real estate,” or on the proportion of “federal-only” voters, likely in the range of one-third to one-half of all voters.

Regardless of the method chosen, it is important that federal funding becomes a regular appropriation in the federal budget, according to the report, so local governments know what to expect when building their budget . The researchers also suggest an application-based grant system or a set amount of money to be used over time for capital expenditures such as voting equipment and computer systems.

Additional suggestions for how the federal government could assist election administration include funding research into election spending, which would allow researchers a better understanding of where election funding comes from and how it is used. That would improve administration and “recount insurance,” which would lower costs for states to conduct recounts or post-election audits.

The federal government is already moving toward implementing some of these suggestions. President Biden’s budget for fiscal 2023 includes a proposed $10 billion for election administration over the next 10 years. One-fifth of that total would be allocated this year, followed by $800 million to $900 million every year after. Biden’s budget also includes $5 billion for the U.S. Postal Service to expand mail-in voting.

Read More

Understanding the Debate on Health Secretary Kennedy’s Vaccine Panelists

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., January 29, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

Understanding the Debate on Health Secretary Kennedy’s Vaccine Panelists

Summary

On June 9, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), dismissed all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Secretary Kennedy claimed the move was necessary to eliminate “conflicts of interest” and restore public trust in vaccines, which he argued had been compromised by the influence of pharmaceutical companies. However, this decision strays from precedent and has drawn significant criticism from medical experts and public health officials across the country. Some argue that this shake-up undermines scientific independence and opens the door to politicized decision-making in vaccine policy.

Background: What Is ACIP?

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is a federal advisory group that helps guide national vaccine policy. Established in 1964, it has over 60 years of credibility as an evidence-based body of medical and scientific experts. ACIP makes official recommendations on vaccine schedules for both children and adults, determining which immunizations are required for school entry, covered by health insurance, and prioritized in public health programs. The committee is composed of specialists in immunology, epidemiology, pediatrics, infectious disease, and public health, all of whom are vetted for scientific rigor and ethical standards. ACIP’s guidance holds national weight, shaping both public perception of vaccines and the policies of institutions like schools, hospitals, and insurers.

Keep ReadingShow less
MQ-9 Predator Drones Hunt Migrants at the Border
Way into future, RPA Airmen participate in Red Flag 16-2 > Creech ...

MQ-9 Predator Drones Hunt Migrants at the Border

FT HUACHUCA, Ariz. - Inside a windowless and dark shipping container turned into a high-tech surveillance command center, two analysts peered at their own set of six screens that showed data coming in from an MQ-9 Predator B drone. Both were looking for two adults and a child who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and had fled when a Border Patrol agent approached in a truck.

Inside the drone hangar on the other side of the Fort Huachuca base sat another former shipping container, this one occupied by a drone pilot and a camera operator who pivoted the drone's camera to scan nine square miles of shrubs and saguaros for the migrants. Like the command center, the onetime shipping container was dark, lit only by the glow of the computer screens.

Keep ReadingShow less
A Trump 2020 flag outside of a home.

As Trump’s second presidency unfolds, rural America—the foundation of his 2024 election win—is feeling the sting. From collapsing export markets to cuts in healthcare and infrastructure, those very voters are losing faith.

Getty Images, ablokhin

Trump’s 2.0 Actions Have Harmed Rural America Who Voted for Him

Daryl Royal, the 20-year University of Texas football coach, once said, “You've gotta dance with them that brung ya.” The modern adaptation of that quote is “you gotta dance with the one who brought you to the party.” The expression means you should remain loyal to the people or things that helped you succeed.

Sixty-three percent of America’s 3,144 counties are predominantly rural, and Donald Trump won 93 percent of those counties in 2024. Analyses show that rural counties have become increasingly solid Republican, and Trump’s margin of victory within rural America reached a new high in the 2024 election.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hands Off Our Elections: States and Congress, Not Presidents, Set the Rules
white concrete dome museum

Hands Off Our Elections: States and Congress, Not Presidents, Set the Rules

Trust in elections is fragile – and once lost, it is extraordinarily difficult to rebuild. While Democrats and Republicans disagree on many election policies, there is broad bipartisan agreement on one point: executive branch interference in elections undermines the constitutional authority of states and Congress to determine how elections are run.

Recent executive branch actions threaten to upend this constitutional balance, and Congress must act before it’s too late. To be clear – this is not just about the current president. Keeping the executive branch out of elections is a crucial safeguard against power grabs by any future president, Democrat or Republican.

Keep ReadingShow less