Every year, millions of Americans celebrate the luck of the Irish. Americans spent a record $6.9 billion in 2023 celebrating the holiday, attending parades, eating corned beef and cabbage, and drinking green beer. But this luck and cheer hasn’t spread to our local election offices. We spend exponentially less on election administration than we do each year on St. Patrick’s Day.

Over the last few years, Congress has only kept funding to a minimum, allocating $75 million for election security grants. Fair and secure elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. This funding shortfall leaves election officials with the difficult task of managing a range of rising security challenges as well as administering elections without up-to-date technology and the staff to support them.

With every election, officials face increasingly complex threats, both physical and cyber. Oregon’s county clerks are struggling with staffing, retention, and recruitment in the midst of a toxic political environment. The Department of Homeland Security has designated election infrastructure as a critical sector that could be vulnerable to a range of threats, including interference from foreign governments. Unfortunately, the federal government has not consistently nor sufficiently funded election departments across the nation.

To put this into perspective, it has been estimated that more than $53 billion will be needed over 10 years to provide local election offices with the resources they need to continue conducting safe and secure elections. In Oregon alone, modernizing our infrastructure will cost $767.5 million over 10 years. This includes:

• $14 million for cybersecurity improvements and maintenance,

• $10.5 million to replace outdated voting machines, and

• $725 million for election administration and operations.

For so many small jurisdictions in Oregon, these investments are critical to enhancing the voter experience in the years to come.

Our luck hasn’t run out just yet: Despite all of these challenges, local election offices uphold their sacred duty of administering elections and work on the front lines protecting our democracy. But we shouldn’t expect them to continue to do this vital role without proper resources and support.

An overwhelming majority of Americans recognize the need to better fund our elections, according to polling by the Election Infrastructure Initiative. Eighty percent of registered voters support a $2 billion annual investment to upgrade election security systems, hire the staff needed to administer local elections and replace outdated voting equipment. Seventy-seven percent of likely voters agree that our elections need to be more safe, secure and accessible.

On March 11, the White House released its fiscal year 2025 budget, recommending $5 billion in Help America Vote Act security grants over the next decade, and $1.625 billion to meet the urgent need of elections officials. This funding is critical.