Guest Column: President Trump promised more secure elections—now Congress must back it up with adequate funding By Austin Hoffman

President Trump promised more secure elections—now Congress must back it up with adequate funding
By Austin Hoffman

In recent years, election integrity has rightly taken center stage in national and local conversations. However, as more Americans call for stronger safeguards to protect the vote, many election administrators have struggled to fund these essential processes, and federal support has failed to keep pace with the growing threats facing our democracy. Robust elections are pillars of American democracy, and our states require adequate funding to keep this foundation on solid ground.

Local officials, like the ones I work with on the South Dakota Board of Elections, are responsible for a broad range of voting operations. From addressing vulnerabilities in our election software to verifying the accuracy of results in post-election audits, these steps are critical to ensuring that every vote remains secure. However, these processes are costly to carry out. Hiring and training staff and purchasing upgraded equipment require significant financial commitments, which can strain resource-strapped governments.

This is where federal investment becomes crucial to supplement state and local budgets, which often operate on razor-thin margins. Federal funding provides the support and flexibility we need to ensure every citizen can safely and securely cast their ballot. Every Election Day, there are small disruptions like malfunctioning voting equipment to broader upsets like bomb threats and cyber incidents. And officials cannot carry out their duties to protect American elections without the proper resources at hand.

Unfortunately, Congressional support has been woefully lacking in recent years as funding levels have steadily declined. This discouraging trend jeopardizes states’ and localities’ ability to swiftly and efficiently respond to these crises as they crop up, imposing self-inflicted harm to our democratic institutions.

President Trump has long demonstrated a commitment to enhancing election security so that Americans can feel confident in the integrity of their vote—and it was encouraging to see Congress advance $15 million for election security grants in the recent continuing resolution. While this was a productive step in the right direction, we are still digging out of the hole left by lack of investment during the Biden administration. Further, this figure still lags far behind the roughly $400 million appropriated in fiscal years 2018 and 2020 during President Trump’s first term.

Recently, President Trump signed an executive order reaffirming his administration’s focus on election integrity. Among its objectives are pledges to modernize voting equipment and upgrade cybersecurity safeguards, which are critical steps to increasing public trust in elections. With sufficient funding, these goals will create a more resilient electoral infrastructure that will benefit future generations of voters. But without the necessary investment, we may not see the President’s vision realized.

Several reforms outlined in the recent executive order are absolutely essential, and the President is right to elevate the issue of election integrity. But spotlighting the need for more security at the ballot box is only half the battle—election officials need sustained financial support to achieve real progress. In a moment where election security has been afforded renewed attention, Congress must use this momentum to ensure that our voting infrastructure receives robust and reliable funding in 2025 and beyond.

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Austin Hoffman is the State’s Attorney for McPherson County and serves on the South Dakota Board of Elections.