$2.9M Grant To Help Burlington County Pay Extra Election Costs

BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ — Burlington County has received a $2.9 million grant to help the county pay for the switch to a primarily vote-by-mail election amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced on Thursday.

The Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders voted unanimously to accept the grant from the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life for election planning on Wednesday.

The money is expected to be enough to pay for the additional expenses for both the primary and general elections that were held this year, officials said.

Gov. Phil Murphy ordered both elections be conducted primarily with vote-by-mail ballots rather than in-person voting with machines to protect voters and poll workers from spreading the virus. Read more here: Coming NJ Election ‘Primarily’ Will Be Vote-By-Mail: Gov. Murphy

After the announcement, Burlington County applied for the grant, citing numerous additional expenses, including temporary workers, additional computers, document scanners, barcode scanners, printers and other equipment needed to process the historic volume of Vote-by-Mail ballots.

Officials also anticipate more than $1.4 million in additional expenses for ballots, envelopes and postage related to the more than 325,000 vote-by-mail ballots the county has issued. Read more here: Election Day In Burlington County: Who's On The Ballot, Voting

As of Friday, more than 138,000 ballots have already been successfully returned to the Burlington County Election Board. Read more here: 138K Burlington County Ballots Returned For 2020 Elections

“Ensuring voters ability to cast their ballots in a safe and secure manner during this unprecedented pandemic has been a challenge that has forced both election workers and voters to make adjustments. It’s also come at a substantial cost in both time and finances,” Burlington County Director Felicia Hopson said. “Thanks to this grant, we can report that those costs will not be borne by our taxpayers. On behalf of our voters and our entire board, I’d like to thank the Center for Tech and Civic Life for providing us with this much-needed support.”

The Center for Tech and Civic Life is a nonprofit group that promotes the use of technology to improve how local governments and communities interact. The group is expecting to distribute over $300 million to help local governments run safe elections during the health crisis.

The money was pledged to the organization by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg for this purpose, and it can be used by governments to fund staffing, training and equipment purchases or upgrades needed for the elections.

As of Thursday, more than 2,100 local election jurisdictions have applied for grants, according to the Center for Tech and Civic Life.

“No one anticipated this pandemic, but I’m incredibly proud of how our entire County government has responded to assist our residents and deliver the critical services they require,” Hopson said. “This election has been an extension of that. We’ve taken the steps needed for voters to safely cast their ballots and have their votes securely counted. All that’s left is for voters to act. We’re asking those that haven’t yet completed and returned their ballots to do so as soon as possible.”