Bureaucracy And Politics Slow Election Security Funding To States
When Congress approved giving $380 million to states to bolster the security of their elections, state officials were caught off guard but extremely grateful. Elections are notoriously underfunded and haven't seen a windfall like this from the federal government in more than a decade.
But getting that money out to all the states, and then into the hands of localities that run the elections, with enough time to have a meaningful effect on the 2018 midterm elections is a difficult proposition.
Three months after receiving congressional approval, and now less than five months from November's midterm elections, 33 states have filed the necessary paperwork to begin receiving money.
That number, especially when it was just 11 in mid-May, but there is mixed consensus on what it actually says about the country's seriousness when it comes to handling threats leading up to the 2018 election.
