UPDATE 4/18/2020: On March 19, the Brennan Center published a preliminary estimate of the cost of adapting the country’s voting systems and practices to ensure that the coronavirus pandemic wouldn’t interfere with safe and secure election in November. Our estimate: approximately $2 billion. Importantly, this estimate did not include the cost of ensuring the safety and security of the many other statewide and local elections that will occur throughout 2020.

Since our March estimate, new guidance from health professionals has led election officials to take extra actions to ensure the health of their workers and voters, including providing protective gear — such as gloves and masks — to all poll workers and offering curbside voting. Most election offices also have had additional IT costs associated with ensuring that staff can perform critical functions remotely and securely.

Given the costs associated with protecting state and local elections with the new recommended health protections and technology costs, as well as for safely running dozens of additional elections this year, states and localities will need many more resources in 2020 than our preliminary estimate for the November election.



Accordingly, the Brennan Center recommends that Congress make available at least $4 billion to ensure all elections between now and November are free, fair, safe, and secure.

There is no question that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a difficult and, in many ways, unprecedented challenge to America’s elections. The Brennan Center has offered a detailed plan to ensure that the pandemic does not prevent a free and fair election. Implementing that plan must begin now. Below, we provide a preliminary cost estimate to implement all aspects of our plan, which could cost up to $2 billion nationwide. Of course, the Brennan Center plan is not an exhaustive list, and states will have additional needs to ensure all of their citizens can vote with confidence during this pandemic.