Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
Help America Vote Act of 2002
On October 29, 2002, President Bush signed HR 3295, the Help America Vote Act ("HAVA"). This federal legislation was in response to the voting irregularities experienced during the 2000 federal election and created many new mandates for state and local governments. The statute authorized approximately $3.86 billion in federal funding to help states meet the mandates imposed by HAVA. The primary allegations of voting irregularities experienced during the 2000 federal election concerned votes not being properly counted and voters being erroneously omitted from voter registration rolls, which resulted in eligible voters being turned away from the polls. Texas used its HAVA grants from the Federal government for the counties to purchase compliant voting systems and for the state to purchase and maintain a compliant electronic voter registration database as well as create a voter education program, VoteTexas.
HAVA Election Security Grant Funding
On Friday, March 23, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 into law. The Act included $380 million in grants, made available to states to improve the administration of elections for Federal office, including to enhance technology and make certain election security improvements. Texas received $23.3 million and the legislature appropriated a five percent match of just over $1.1 million. Congress specified that this election improvement money should be spent to improve the security of elections. Texas is spending two to three million at the state level to improve the security of the voter registration database and other election systems including the candidate filing and election night reporting system. The remainder of the money is allocated to the counties to improve the security of their election systems. On December 20, 2019, President Donald J. Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 into law. The Act includes $425 million in new Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds (PDF), made available to states to improve the administration of elections for Federal office, including to enhance technology and make election security improvements. Texas is slated to receive $26,064,574, which will require 20% match totaling $5,212,915.
