On Monday, Congressman Bennie Thompson sent a letter to Mississippi’s Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann asking him to submit paperwork on behalf of the state so that grant funding from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission would be eligible to the state. … “Russian interference in the 2016 election was a watershed moment for our democracy,” Thompson wrote in the letter. “Russia’s efforts have affected public confidence in elections and its efforts have shown no signs of cooling. Mississippi currently uses a combination of paper ballots and direct recording electronic voting machines (DREs) without a voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT).” … Just yesterday the Chairman for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Thomas Hicks, sent a letter to the editor of POLITICO in response to a letter published on May 17, “So far, few states have sought federal money to secure elections.”
In the letter, Hicks wrote that in just one month 22% of states and U.S. territories have begun to draw on nearly $90 million in election security funds that are made available by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, information that contradicts the original POLITICO article that claims very few states have done so.
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s office confirmed they have not yet begun drawing down on the grant money, but have been in the process of applying for them throughout the month of May.
Full Article: Bennie Thompson and Delbert Hosemann spar on status of grant paperwork to U.S. EAC | Mississippi Politics and News – Y’all Politics.