On Tuesday, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill announced Connecticut’s 169 municipalities would be receiving more than $2.3 million in grant money ahead of the November election.

The grant giveaway brought the total of money sent from Merrill's office to Connecticut towns to almost $10 million. The federal grant money is meant to ensure secure cybersecurity infrastructure, expand absentee ballot access and make polling places safe.

"The 2020 election is happening under circumstances that were unthinkable just eight months ago, and my office and registrars of voters and town clerks across the state are working hard to ensure that every Connecticut voter is able to safely cast their vote without jeopardizing their health," Merrill said.

A Tuesday news release from Merrill's office explained how the approximately $1.4 million in Absentee Ballot Support Grant money, meant to give town clerks resources to deal with processing, mailing out and counting an expected influx of absentee ballots, was allocated.

“The grant assumes that 80% of registered voters will choose to vote in 2020, and that 66% of those voters will choose to vote by absentee ballot, and grants towns $1 for each voter through the 10,000th projected voter and $2 for each additional voter more than 10,000,” the release reads. “Should more voters cast absentee ballots than projected, towns will receive additional grant money in the same amounts.”

This absentee ballot grant adds to the approximately $5.7 million already allocated for ballot drop boxes, postage for absentee ballot packages and completed ballots for the general election and printing and postage for absentee ballots and absentee ballot applications in the primary and the general elections.

As for the Safe Polls Grant, which totaled $865,500, towns are supposed to use the money for safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, should people decide to vote in person. The grant awards $1,000 per polling place in all towns and a $2,500 minimum per town, adding to the $500,000 in grant money spent ahead of this year’s primary election.

In New London County, municipalities received a total of nearly $130,000 in combined safe polls and absentee ballot aid, including:

[naviga:ul]

[naviga:li]East Lyme, $9,833[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Groton, $17,635[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Ledyard, $7,900[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Lyme, $3,528[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Montville, $11,676[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]New London, $11,344[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]North Stonington, $4,796[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Norwich, $15,953[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Old Lyme, $5,633[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Preston, $4,151[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Salem, $3,989[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Stonington, $12,309 [/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Waterford, $11,121[/naviga:li]

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Absentee Ballot Support and Safe Polls grants for the general election will be sent to towns next week.

s.spinella@theday.com