County election boards that beef up security around voting equipment and elections will be able to seek reimbursement for their expenses under a bill approved by a state Senate committee Monday. Senate Bill 327 requires counties to make sure their voting systems follow new security procedures and allows county election boards to apply to the Indiana Secretary of State for full or partial compensation of any resources or staff implemented to meet the new standards. However, it does not say where the money is coming from. The bill passed with a unanimous 8-0 vote and was referred to the Appropriations Committee for review of possible funding sources as the result of an approved amendment.
Angela Nussmeyer, Democratic co-chair of the Indiana Election Division, said she wants to understand how counties will be reimbursed. “I think it’s important that we establish a fund to either appropriate money this year or in future years so that we can actually move forward with reimbursing counties for security,” she said.
Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, reminded committee members that they have little time to move this bill forward, urging them to consider the consequences of sending it to a separate committee.
“My concern is that I really think we have a substantially strong product that I would like to continue to fine tune. I’m concerned about that step at this point,” Walker said.
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