Secretary Of State announces over $4 Million for upcoming elections

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Mississippi will receive $4.7 million from the federal government for upcoming elections.

The money will be used to help counties upgrade voting machines and make other improvements at precincts.

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann made the announcement during a stop in Tupelo for the annual CREATE State of the Region meeting.

Hosemann says counties will be able to determine what their needs are, and apply to his office for the federal money, ahead of upcoming elections.

“Some of it will be used for statewide election management, SEMS, that’s the one that keeps up with everybody in whole state that is registered to vote, about 1.8 million of us, the rest of it and majority of it will be distributed to counties on a voting age population basis.  They will have to apply to us, like the former HAVA grants, ones in 2005 after President Bush and Gore,  they will apply, tell us what they will use them for, we approve and send them the money,” Hosemann said.

Hosemann’s office is kicking in about $224,000 in a matching grant, bringing the total to $4.7 million in state and federal funds to help make sure elections run smoothly.