Wisconsin's five largest cities awarded $6.3 million in effort to make elections safer amid coronavirus pandemic

Wisconsin's five largest cities are being awarded more than $6 million to help administer this year's elections during the coronavirus pandemic.

The cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Racine and Kenosha are set to receive a combined $6.3 million in grants from the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life.

The funding for the "Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan" comes as the state is expected to play a key role in this year's presidential election. It also comes after some people in Milwaukee and Green Bay waited in line — sometimes for several hours — to vote in the state's April election, and delayed or missing mail-in ballots frustrated people around the state.

The grant aims to help election officials administer safe elections despite budget gaps that have worsened during the ongoing pandemic, and will be used to help the cities open voting sites, set up drive-thru and drop box locations, provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for poll workers and recruit and train poll workers.

The grants have been approved by the nonprofit and will soon be awarded to the municipalities. Some of the cities require the Common Council to accept the grants. In Milwaukee, that vote could come as soon as tomorrow.

"We have seen what can happen to elections in the midst of a dangerous pandemic — long lines, limited locations, threatened exposure to a deadly disease, and voters concerned about going to the polls due to serious health fears," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said in a statement. "These resources will help us address these problems, and I thank the Center for Tech and Civic Life for making these important and wise investments."

Rev. Greg Lewis, the executive director of Souls to the Polls who contracted COVID-19 earlier this year, said the effort to provide safer voting was crucial to city residents, especially Black voters.

"The Black community has been hard hit by the COVID 19, I myself was hospitalized and we have lost hundreds of Black lives to this virus," Lewis said. "It is literally a matter of life and death that our people can vote without risking our health."

Racine Mayor Cory Mason said the money would also help municipalities hold elections in the face of coronavirus and budget shortfalls.

"The deadly COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a global public health crisis, and seriously impaired the ability of local governments to administer safe and smooth elections," Mason said. "These grants will help each municipality make investments that will ensure smooth, safe and healthy elections in a time of a national health pandemic -- which each municipality otherwise would struggle to do while facing an intense budget shortfall."

In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Mason said the grant will help election officials plan out PPE that will help protect poll workers and in-person voters.

"In April we didn't have as much supplies as we would have liked in those areas because it was coming so quickly, so the hope is now that we've got a little bit more time to plan that we'll be able to adequately answer those questions in terms of how we clean surfaces, the masks people will need, the gloves that people will need as ballots are being handed back and forth," Mason said. "All those precautions will be able to be considered with the grant that we have now, so we're really grateful for the opportunity the grant gives us to keep our poll workers and our voters safe."

Green Bay voters waited in some of the longest lines in the state on Election Day in April.

"The coronavirus pandemic has provided a stress test for our democratic institutions, including our elections, and we know we must do better," Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said. "The support of the Center for Tech and Civic Life will enable us to ensure that all Green Bay citizens can exercise their right to vote safely and securely in August and November."

The lines were far shorter in Madison, but Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the city "spent hundreds of thousands of dollars we hadn’t budgeted doing so."

"As we have seen in Wisconsin and across the nation, COVID-19 is not gone; in fact it’s getting worse in some places," she said. "If we are going to meet our obligations as elected leaders to ensure the safe administration of elections during this pandemic, we have to think differently and bring in help where we can."

Milwaukee is set to receive $2,154,500, Madison $1,271,788, Green Bay $1,093,400, Kenosha $862,779 and Racine $942,100.

The private donation comes less than two months after the state Elections Commission approved giving more than $4 million in federal aid to communities around the state to cover higher election costs because of the coronavirus.

The grants from the Elections Commission include $324,000 for Milwaukee, $196,000 for Madison, $58,000 for Green Bay, $52,000 for Kenosha and $38,000 for Racine.

"From ensuring that polling places are open and following the latest public health guidelines, to providing options for voters to easily and securely return absentee ballots, to making certain that the incredible people who step up to serve as poll workers are protected and well compensated for their service, we’re proud to partner with the five largest cities in Wisconsin to the deliver a smooth voting process that inspires confidence," said Tiana Epps-Johnson, the nonprofit's executive director.

Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS.