Clark, Floyd counties receive grants for election improvements

Jan. 4—SOUTHERN INDIANA — Clark and Floyd counties are receiving grants for election improvements.

Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales visited both counties Thursday to present the statewide grants, which are funded through the Federal Help America Vote Act. Clark and Floyd are among more than 60 counties receiving a combined $2 million in grants.

Floyd County is receiving $38,945, and Clark County is receiving $23,582.

"As Indiana's Chief Election Officer, I spent the past year building relationships with our county clerks," Morales said in a Thursday news release. "Through countless conversations, I saw firsthand their dedication to Hoosier voters. It was so important to me to hand-deliver these grant checks. I'm looking forward to seeing the funding help improve elections across our state."

Floyd County Voter Registration Clerk Nancy Riley said the grant funding will go toward the purchase of battery backups to provide a power supply for "any possible issues that might come around during the election."

"We can keep our machines going on these power packs for several hours," she said.

The county will also purchase additional Freedom Vote ballot scanners.

"Instead of just having one at each site, we're going to have several so that the voters can get in and out quicker and give them a much faster flow with the whole process," Riley said. "We know the turnout is going to be huge this year, so that's going to help us out a lot."

Floyd County Clerk Danita Burks said the county would need to buy the equipment anyway, and it helps to receive the grant funding.

"We're just so thankful Diego came and that he promoted this grant throughout the whole state," she said. "A lot of the counties did apply."

Clark County Clerk Ryan Lynch said the grant will support both physical security for the county elections and educational initiatives.

The grant will help the county buy new ballot bags to improve security measures, he said.

"They are designed for our specific machines that we use here in Clark County," he said. "So basically, it will be less hands touching the ballots at the actual polling location. [The ballot bags] will automatically catch the ballots, and then they can be locked up immediately in these new bags."

Lynch said the county will also partner with a local media company to create educational videos about the election process.

"It's just to kind of take away some of the mystery behind some election topics and just to try to inform the voters as much as we can so that we can hopefully increase voter turnout," he said.

He appreciates that the county can improve the election process "with funds that are not coming directly out of Clark County residents' pockets."

During Thursday's visit to Floyd County, Morales said the grants will help "continue to help secure elections [and] to run smooth elections."

"Many other counties have applied for different reasons," he said. "Some of them applied because they need some cameras. Some of them applied because they need more voter education [and] voter outreach. Some of them applied because they need some printers."

His goal is to encourage eligible Hoosiers to vote.

"One of my goals at the beginning of my administration was to increase voter turnout and voter participation," Morales said.