SCARBOROUGH — As municipalities prepare for Election Day on Nov. 3, the Town of Scarborough has received a grant of $8,724 to plan and operationalize a safe and secure election administration.
The grant comes from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit, Town Manager Thomas Hall said before the Town Council approved the funding on Sept. 30. An opportunity for the funding was afforded to all communities in the United States.
According to its website, “CTCL is a team of civic technologists, trainers, researchers, election administration and data experts working to foster a more informed and engaged democracy, and helping to modernize U.S. elections.”
Hall said that Scarborough will use the grant to help pay some of the postage for more than 6,000 absentee ballots that the town is sending out to voters.
“The other thing we’ll be doing is installing a security camera in the front vestibule, make sure in the name of safe and secure elections that we have good security systems in place,” he said
The Town of Scarborough said that early voting by absentee ballot began on Oct. 5.
Ballots must be received at the balloting place before the closing of polls on Election Day, Hall said.
Councilor Jean-Marie Caterina thanked the grant applicant.
“Any extra money we can get — I know this can be used for a number of different things around elections, so very happy to have it,” she said.
CTCL is working to support election departments through the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit’s website said. Some of this work includes curating resources, assembling experts, and delivering online training.
“We’ve heard from election officials that there are so many resources, recommendations, and tools available that it can be difficult to quickly locate what they need,” CTCL said. “As we all sprint towards November, time is the most important resource. “
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