By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The co-author of a national assessment of challenges faced by local election administrators focused on the failure of some Kansas counties to match rising costs of voting technology and election staff with budgets heavily reliant on property tax revenue.
The joint report from the Robert Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence and the Edward Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston provided election policymakers and administrators with data and research useful in arguing for more sustainable funding of local elections.
Zach Mohr, associate professor of public affairs and administration at University of Kansas and a co-author of the report, said 92% of funding for local elections in Kansas’ smallest population counties was derived from property taxes. He said the property tax was a steady source of money, but it didn’t keep pace with escalating costs.
“It might not be growing as much as we’d like, so that’s a bit of a problem,” Mohr said. “There’s probably a need for more diversification so that it can grow with the growing need. We may need more transfers from the higher levels of government.”
He said only 37% of Kansas counties studied had sufficient revenue to cover election expenditures in 2024.
It was a relief Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab forwarded $1.9 million in federal Help America Vote Act grants to 84 counties in 2024, Mohr said. The money was invested in advancing the physical security of elections and to address cybersecurity risks.
The Kennedy and Dole institutes’ report released Wednesday recommended creation of more stable funding streams drawn from local, state or federal sources. It argued local governments needed adequate staffing of offices and modern equipment to improve administrative efficiency and to maintain or earn public trust in elections. The report was produced with support from the Election Trust Initiative, a nonpartisan subsidiary of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
“Now, more than ever, the story of the election professionals who conduct our elections, often on a shoestring budget, needs our attention,” said Tammy Patrick, an advisor on the election administration project. “Administrators in cities and in rural areas; in red states, blue states and swing states; those who were elected, appointed or hired as a public servant; Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated officials — all are better able to serve their voters and communities when they are sufficiently supported with the tools and resources the American voters deserve.”
The report said local government financed 85% of costs associated with administering elections, despite surveys showing the public believed federal and state governments were mostly responsible. The report said the budget for local elections represented 0.5% of the annual budget of local units of government.
“Half a percent is not much money at all to something that is the foundation and undergirds American democracy,” said Mitchell Brown, a professor of political science at Auburn University and contributor to the report.
The report said election offices, particularly in rural areas, too often faced personnel shortages and limped along on outdated technology. The debate about allocation of resources between urban and rural counties was complicated by the fact that 8% of U.S. election offices served three-fourths of the electorate.
Colorado’s cost-based reimbursement system for county-conducted elections could serve as a model for other states, the report said. In 2024, Colorado shifted to a model with state reimbursement of 45% of actual costs. The law allowed reimbursements to grow automatically over time in line with growth in election costs.
It replaced a system that allocated 80 cents or 90 cents per active voter to counties, said Hilary Rudy, Colorado’s deputy elections director.
“A per-voter formula fails to account for things like drastic changes in supply costs … or upgrading security requirements or new voting equipment,” Rudy said.
Ben Hovland, a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, said there was a need for the federal government to increase financial support for local election administration.
Large annual shifts in federal funding, often driven by emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, made it difficult for city, county and state governments to plan election budgets. The Help America Vote Act delivered $425 million in 2020 to the states, but the total dropped to $75 million in 2022 and $15 million in 2025.
“That trajectory is obviously headed downward,” Hoyland said. “We hear about a desire for that funding to be consistent and predictable.”
