FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Alachua County Supervisor of Elections awarded more than $700,000
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. (September 24, 2020) — The Alachua County Supervisor of Elections was awarded $707,606 by the Chicago-based Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL).
The grant is part of the center's COVID-19 Response Program, which was funded with a $250 million donation by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg's wife. 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.
"This is a game-changing sum of money to receive, especially so close to an election," said Kim A. Barton, Alachua County's Supervisor of Elections. "We've never received outside support at this level, and it will allow us to invest in equipment, training and voter outreach in ways that will have a lasting impact on our community and how elections are conducted in it."
A few of the investments (among others) that will be made:
- Vote-by-mail ballot signature verification hardware and software that will allow the office to more fairly
- Equipment to assist with the processing of vote-by-mail ballots
- Voter outreach and education, focusing heavily on promoting voting by mail
For more information, contact the Supervisor of Elections at 352-374-5252.
