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The Honorables Dear : We write to encourage you to help release funds in a state bank account designated for the administration of elections. The funds come from Title II of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. The money has been used for many years to pay for the annual maintenance fee for election equipment in the 100 counties. At this point, about $4.1 million of HAVA Title II funds remain in the bank account. If these funds are not released each county will have to pay the election equipment maintenance fee for the fiscal year beginning July 1. For the counties, the total fees add up to $3.2 million. In Cabarrus County, we will need to find $44,438.00 to pay this bill. For counties experiencing the economic downturn, this is a serious challenge; it will mean making cuts in other vital services. HAVA Title 11 funds can be used for other election administration expenses. For example, funds for Section 251 of Title II can help pay for ballot programming, processing voter registration, and training poll workers. Funds for Section 261 of Title II are designated for improving the accessibility of polling places for voters with disabilities. The HAVA Title II funds are here, in our state, and they have been used effectively in the past. Importantly, the State Board of Elections has used the funds to pay the $3.2 million annual maintenance fee for election equipment in the 100 counties. Unfortunately, the Title 11 funds are currently frozen for two reasons. First, in accordance with federal law, North Carolina may not use Section 251 Title II funds to supplant its baseline financial commitment to election administration, calculated in North Carolina's case as $3.46 million (the General Assembly's appropriation for core functions of the State Board of Elections in FY 1999 - 2000). The General Assembly chose not to meet this Maintenance of Effort (MOE) threshold for the 2011 -2013 biennium. Instead it appropriated $664,000 less than the required $3.46 MOE amount per year to the State Board of Elections for FY 2011 -2012 and for FY 2012 -2013. That shortfall means Section 251 Title II funds may not be used. Second, the budget adopted by the General Assembly includes a provision (Section 26.1) that says no Title II funds may be released for the 2011 -2012 fiscal year until the MOE level of funding is appropriated. This provision, coupled with the $664,000 is underfunding of the MOE, effectively means that Section 261 funds are also frozen. There are approximately $1.7 million remaining of HAVA Title I funds that are not dependent on the MOE, but most of these funds are needed by the State Board of Elections for upgrading the statewide voter data management system. Finally, we understand that even if North Carolina returned the unused HAVA funds to the federal government, the money would not go to U.S. Treasury but would become available for other states to use for their election administration. In fact, $1.2 million of new HAVA money is now available to North Carolina because of funds unused by other states. We see the impact of an effective, secure election system that complies with state and federal requirements, and we appropriate significant funds to staff and administer elections for both local and state offices. We urge you as our legislative leaders to find a way to appropriate the remaining $664,000 that will unfreeze the $4.1 million in Title II funds and help the citizens of Cabarrus County and the rest of North Carolina. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Elizabeth F. Poole, Chair Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners Attachment number 2 F -5 Page 88