Experts say the coronavirus pandemic has tacked on hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpected costs to this year’s election. And there are clear signs that an emergency federal infusion of $400 million made in March will fall far short of what’s needed.
Money buys the material needed to pull off a free and fair election, said Nathaniel Persily, an election law professor with Stanford Law School. This year, though, “local jurisdictions are literally relying on philanthropy to help pull off this election,” he said, pointing to a Chicago nonprofit that donated $6.3 million to five Wisconsin cities. “It’s like we are holding a bake sale for our democracy.”
Dozens of interviews with local election clerks, state officials and advocates by USA TODAY Network, Columbia Journalism Investigations and FRONTLINE reveal the country’s patchwork election system is already fraying. And a proposal to provide states an additional $3.6 billion in federal money to support cratering election budgets has yet to be voted on by the U.S. Senate.
Academics and experts said the $400 million that has already been allocated is too little and its distribution too slow. In key swing states, cash and resources are only now trickling down to the locals responsible for running elections.