ACLU and 41 Organizations Demand $19.1 Million for the Election Assistance Commission

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union and 40 organizations urged Senate appropriators to allocate $19.1 million in operating and programmatic expenses for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in the end-of-year funding package.

The EAC provides critical federal support to states to improve the security and reliability of elections. It is also vital to advance the goals of the Help America Vote Act, including updating the voluntary voting system guidelines, testing and certification of voting systems, election data collection, and research and studies on core election administration issues such as methods of convenient and accessible voting, ballot design, provisional voting, voter education, and poll worker performance.

The following is a statement from Sonia Gill, senior legislative counsel for the ACLU:

“A fully funded, empowered EAC is crucial to supporting state and local election administrators in their responsibilities to run fair and accessible elections. This year’s election was unprecedented: record voter turnout and record mail-in ballots, all during a pandemic. Many election officials worked tirelessly to ensure voters could cast their ballots safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic laid bare the structural deficiencies in our democratic process. As our country continues to strive for a more accessible, participatory, and functional election system, the EAC remains a critical independent federal agency for ensuring voters and states are set up to succeed.”