VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. -- On Tuesday, the Volusia County Council approved the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections for a state grant of $317,000 for election security.
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Here are five things you need to know about the grant:
1) PHYSICAL SECURITY: The supervisor of elections plans to use this money to heighten physical security around their new building they should be moving into in December.
They plan to equip the building with barricades, surveillance cameras and an alarm system.
"It’s not to keep anybody out, but to make sure what we have is protected," said Lisa Lewis, the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections.
2) CYBER SECURITY: Some of the money will also be spent enhancing their monitoring systems.
"I liken this to you know you want to protect your house," said Lewis. "Can you protect it 100 percent from a burglary? Maybe not all the time, but you can put deterrents in place if you put bars on the windows or deadbolts on the doors ... that is what we want to do here is put some deterrents in place that we can monitor and watch for."
3) VOTER EXPERIENCE: Money will also be spent to make voting easier for some in 2020.
"We are going to purchase some new ballot on demand printers. We are opening up and additional early voting site so that will help get ready for that also," Lewis said.
4) VOTER CONFIDENCE: Lewis hopes the strict procedures gives voters confidence in the system.
"This is your vote, my vote, my family’s, friend’s vote, so I take it very seriously to make sure that it is protected and that people have assurance in the election process," Lewis said.
5) NO MATCH: All of this money is coming from the state. Volusia County is not required to match any of it to get the funds.