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Secretary of the State says governor's budget leaves towns without early voting grants
Summary
At a Feb. 14 General Government A Subcommittee hearing, the Secretary of the State told legislators the governor's proposed budget contains no passthrough funds for towns' early voting expenses and cuts other election-related lines, while tabulator rollout and training continue.
Madam Secretary (name not specified), Secretary of the State, told the General Government A Subcommittee on Feb. 14 that the governor's proposed budget contains no funds to pass through to towns for early voting and reduces several election-related lines that the office has historically used to support municipalities.
The secretary said, "between 2023 and 2026, this office will have implemented more election reforms than in the past 15 years combined, and we do this with a great amount of pride. Yet our budget has not kept pace with this reality, and it's just not sustainable." That testimony framed a hearing focused on the agency's budget requests and the effect of the proposed cuts on both election operations and local governments.
Why it matters: without passthrough funding, towns would have to cover costs that the secretary's office previously supported, such as running secure lines to the central voter registration system, paying for certain printing, and hosting early voting sites. The secretary told the…
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