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Florida spending millions for election security

Posted at 6:39 AM, Jul 30, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-30 06:44:47-04

The Palm Beach County School Board is scheduled to decide Wednesday whether to keep students home during the August primary election.

RELATED:Monday is deadline to vote in Florida primary

This week, the school board will decide on the request made by the Supervisor of Elections to cancel classes Aug. 28.

Palm Beach County schools, home to 187 voting sites, are set to close for the Aug. 28 primary election, a turnabout from a previous announcement that they will remain open.

The school board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to make Aug. 28 a day students stay home but teachers attend school for professional development.

The school board already decided to make Nov. 6, the day of the general election, a Teacher Workday. 

This change is one of several in the works.

Florida Election Security Costs

Palm Beach County is set to receive close to $910,000 in money from the state. 

The director of the state Division of Elections said money can be used for physical security, cyber-security, voting system upgrades, post-election audits and risk assessment audits.

Palm Beach County’s cut is coming from money allocated by the federal government. Out of the nearly $20 million in funds, the state is using its share to pay the salaries of five cyber-security experts.

Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties are also set to get a cut from the federal funds. All the funding must be used this year.