Florida Department of State Approves Election Security Grant Applications for 55 Counties Totaling More Than $2.3 Million

Tallahassee, Fla. –

Following Governor DeSantis’ recent announcement of the redistribution of unexpended funds to Supervisors of Elections to enhance election security, Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee today announced the Florida Department of State has approved election security grant applications totaling $2,343,395 for all 55 counties that applied. Please find a list of approved applications and funding amounts by county here.

“I want to thank Governor Ron DeSantis for supporting the redistribution of the $2.3 million in funds to Supervisors of Elections for election security,” said Secretary Lee. “I commend Supervisors of Elections for working quickly to submit their grant applications so that the Department could approve the funding in a very short time frame.”

In 2018, DOS distributed approximately $14.5 million in election security grants to Supervisors of Elections. The $2.3 million that was distributed to 55 counties is the unspent balance of the original $14.5 million distribution in 2018. Each of the 55 counties requested and received the funds that remained from their original allocation from the $14.5 million, which is why the amount distributed varies greatly between counties. The twelve counties that did not receive funding from the recent distribution of $2.3 million already received and spent the full allocation available to them prior to the 2018 General Elections.

This past session, the Florida Legislature allocated an additional $2.8 million for election security that will be available in the upcoming fiscal year for a total of $5.1 million for election security as we head into 2020.

“Florida’s Supervisors of Elections are extremely thankful to have the $2.3 million in funding made available again thanks to the support of Governor DeSantis,” said Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections President Tammy Jones. “We share the Governor’s and Secretary Lee’s commitment to election security and we will continue to do all that we can to protect our elections from cyber threats.”

Since 2018, DOS and Supervisors of Elections have invested millions of dollars in election security, including $14.5 million in election security grants and $1.9 million to purchase and install ALBERT network monitoring sensors. Florida is the first and only state in the country to have all counties using the ALBERT sensor.

DOS and Florida’s Supervisors of Elections continue to work closely with state and federal partners including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the Center for Internet Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on election security issues. Additionally, DOS and all of Florida’s 67 Supervisors of Elections are members of the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center. These strong partnerships help ensure a coordinated effort between federal, state and local partners to protect Florida’s elections.

As directed by Governor DeSantis, DOS is in the process of working with Supervisors of Elections to conduct a thorough elections-specific assessment and evaluate weaknesses in Florida’s elections systems, as well as identify the potential for human vulnerabilities. Any weaknesses or vulnerabilities that are identified at the state or county level will be addressed or mitigated prior to the 2020 Presidential Preference Primary.

###