$2 million grant coming to Indiana to improve elections

KNOX, Ind. - Of Indiana's 92 counties, 60 of them will be getting grant funds valued at around $2 million to help improve elections.

Here in Starke County, they're getting a grant of more than $10,000 to enhance their election operations just in time for the race for the White House.

This money is planned to be used to add four new electronic poll books or "e-poll books", on top of the 14 they have.

Among other things, this will allow workers to easily pull up voter information including whether the person has already voted or if they voted absentee.

The idea is to cut down on long wait times at the polls.

Indiana Secretary of State, Diego Morales, says election improvement should not be a Republican or Democrat issue. 

“The best way to provide the resource is to provide the resource to our county clerks, they do a lot of great work on running smooth elections in all 92 counties," said Morales.

Some of the counties are also using the funds for things like voter outreach and security measures.

Officials here told me these changes will be implemented before the May 2024 primary elections in anticipation for the likely heated general election in November.