Combined Budget Worksheet Instructions
General Instructions
The budget worksheet form contains rows for budget category line items and columns for costs by program category as listed below. Election Security funds should be budgeted with the total grant award in mind. For example, the Election Security program was awarded in 2018 (Year 1) with supplemental funds in 2020 (Year 2), 2022 (Year 3), 2023 (Year 4), 2024 (Year 5), and 2025 (year 6). The combined budget worksheet should document the budget for the total federal amount and associated match.
General Guidance
Please categorize your expenditures in the predefined program categories as much as possible. Only use
the “Other” categories for items that you cannot allocate to specific program categories. Include all budget
line items related to the activity in the category, such as staffing, travel, training, contracts for services, and
maintenance of any systems associated with the category. For example, if you have an annual software
upgrade for your Voter Registration system or conduct training for counties on the system, you should
allocate those expenditures under the Voter Registration System program category.
If you can estimate staff time to allocate to specific categories, please do so. For example, if you can
estimate that a staff person generally spends 50% of their time on Voter Registration Systems and 50% on
Voting Processes, report 50% of the salary costs to each Program Category. This does not mean the staff
person’s timekeeping process must allocate time to different program categories. You can estimate time
spent on each category for the purpose of progress reporting. However, you must still allocate time
separately if a specific staff person is paid with funds from more than one grant, e.g., if you cover a specific
staff person’s salary with funds from both your Section 251 and Election Security grant, the timesheet must
allocate their time to the different grants.
Budget Categories
Personnel
Fringe Related to Salary
Equipment
Training
Contractual
Other (Describe)
Other (Describe)
Subgrants
Total Direct Costs
Indirect Costs
Program Categories
Voting Equipment
Voting Processes
Voting Registration Systems
Election Auditing
Cyber and Physical Security
Voter Education
Accessibility
Other (Describe)
Other (Describe)
PROGRAM CATEGORIES DESCRIPTIONS
These descriptions will help you determine how to allocate expenditures to specific predefined program categories.
1. Voting Equipment: This is a specialized category for software and hardware related to voting equipment
only. It includes funds to local election offices for voting equipment. You can also include any costs related
to the voting equipment program such as specific contracts and services related to voting equipment,
including storage, as described under General Guidance.
2. Voting Processes: Non-voting equipment-related costs to support the voting process including staffing,
maintenance and storage of voting equipment, training on use of the equipment, travel, and equipment
purchased to support the voting process that is not voting equipment, such as copiers with a per unit cost
over $10,000, as described under General Guidance.
3. Voter Registration Systems: Software and hardware related to updating and maintaining the statewide voter registration system and processes, service contracts on voting equipment and processes, and all other identifiable costs related to the Voter Registration System as described under General Guidance.
4. Election Auditing: All costs associated with post-election auditing, including staffing, etc. as described
under General Guidance.
5. Cyber and Physical Security: All costs associated with cyber and physical security such as security
cameras and as described under General Guidance.
6. Voter Education: Activities related to voter education, including any contracts related to communicating voter education through various print, online or other media. Also include here the state toll-free phone number expenses for the public to communicate with state and county election offices, including for the public to report suspected fraud, as described under General Guidance.
7. Accessibility: All costs associated with ensuring polling places and election-related facilities are fully
accessible as described under General Guidance.
8. Other (write in)
· Bank Fees
· Audit Fees
· Software and licenses not directly allocable to one of the main program categories
If you have any questions about how to categorize a specific allowable grant cost in these predefined
categories or whether to use Other, please reach out to the EAC Grants Office at Grants@eac.gov for
technical assistance.
Instructions
Grantee Information:
Grantees should input data in the green highlighted cells only.
Name of Organization (Cell B-2): Enter the name of the state and department in cell B-2.
Award Type (Cell B-3): The award type “formula” will be selected
Project Period Start Date (Cell B-4): The start date of the budget period is already pre-filled.
Project Period End Date (Cell B-5): Leave blank.
State Indirect Cost Rate: If you are claiming indirect costs against the grant, work with staff knowledgeable about the state’s rate and its base for application to answer the questions on the form and determine the amounts to enter in the line for indirect costs within the appropriate program categories. Because the base for application can vary and may not be based on the budget categories on the form, you should be prepared to answer questions from EAC staff to explain the calculations.
Select your Indirect Cost % in cell E-4
Select your Indirect Cost Type in cell E-5
Match. The percentage of match required, where applicable, will be prepopulated in cell E-3. EAC understands that the non-federal share is planned, and the state has two years from the disbursement date to make the match available for use. Therefore, while the form includes a section in which to enter proposed state match sources in Section C, you are not required to enter data for match at this time if you don’t have it. States can submit amendments to the budget once match is identified. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, are exempt from match.
Section A: Grant Budget
Prior Funding: Include the total amount of federal funding (Cell B9) and required match (Cell B10) award before the new funding. These amounts can be found in the most recent prior-year Notice of Award (NOA). For example, the amounts for FY25 supplemental funding will be located on the FY24 NOA.
New Funding: Include the amount of new federal funding (Cell C9) and required state share (Cell C19) awarded. These amounts can be found in the funding availability email.
Section B: Budget Categories
Allocate total federal funds to each program category (X-axis) you plan to use the funds for and to the budget line items (Y-axis) you plan to claim costs against within the program category. The form will automatically calculate totals for each budget line item and each program category.
Other Program Categories Specified by the State (Cells I-14:23 and J-14:23): If you plan to support one or more program areas that don’t fit into the existing seven categories, use columns I and J. Enter titles for them in cells I-13 and J-13, as needed.
The Budget categories will total automatically. The total budgeted federal funds (Cell K25) should equal the total awarded federal funds (Cell D9). The data verification at the bottom of the page will indicate “TRUE” if the value of the cells match.
Section C: Non-Federal Match Resources
Match Sources: Enter proposed state match sources for the total award. If a match has not yet been identified for the new funds, the budget may be amended later to include the total match.
Submitting to the EAC
Please email your completed budget worksheet to grants@eac.gov. Once approved, your Grants Management Specialist will upload your full application to GLAS.
Budget Changes
EAC recognizes that plans and budgets may change over time. If you are including revisions to past budgets in your combined 2025 Election Security Budget worksheet, please provide an explanation in your program narrative. You can also request a budget amendment in the future if needed. A budget amendment request is required if a new category of funding is being added and/or a shift of more than 10% of the total federal award is being requested between categories.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Margaret Rosenberry |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-05-19 |