The State of California awarded Yolo County a grant in the amount of $15,789 for Election Technology and Security, which needs to be used sometime before July 1, 2026, according to the resolution approved by the board.
The grant is offered through the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which was signed into law by President George W. Bush to create a source of federal funds for states that create plans to make voting easy and accessible to all eligible voters. This includes, but isn’t limited to:
- Implementing a statewide voter registration system
- Replacing punch card voting machines
- Improving voter education and poll worker training, permit voters to cast provisional ballots
- Requiring at least one voting machine per polling place to allow voters with disabilities to vote privately and independently
The county has to meet certain standards to utilize the grant funds, including keeping antivirus software on electronic voting machines up to date, deploy the various programs to meet federal and state law, and more.
The funds can be used to address four different aspects of election security: cybersecurity, physical security, security and privacy awareness training and incident response. The funds cannot be used for elections office operations, such as office equipment, wages, travel costs, or anything not directly related to election security.
For more information, visit the county’s Accessor/Clerk-Recorder/Elections office website at https://ace.yolocounty.gov/35/Elections.
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