NATIONWIDE — Arnold Schwarzenegger is making good on a suggestion he proposed in early September: The former governor of California announced on Wednesday that he will provide grants to cities across the country to reopen polling places that have been closed due to budgetary cuts.

What You Need To Know

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger is offering grants to fund polling places closed due to budgetary cuts

  • The former governor of California sent letters to 6,000 election officials on Wednesday urging them to apply for the grants

  • Over 1,600 polling places have closed between 2012-2018, largely due to the repeal of Section 5 of the Voting rights Act

  • It is unclear if any jurisdictions have applied for the grants

On Sept. 2, Schwarzenegger responded to a report that found over 1,600 polling places had closed between 2012 and 2018, largely due to the repeal of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. At the time, Arnold wanted to know: “Is closing polling stations about making it harder for minorities to vote, or is it because of budgets?”

 

 

 

If the closures are due to the latter problem, Schwarzenegger said, he wanted to help. 

On Wednesday, Schwarzenegger announced he had sent nearly 6,000 election officials and county commissioners letters inviting them to apply for grants that he would fund.

 

“This country gave me everything, and I truly believe this could be one of the best investments I have ever made. All of us can do our part to give back and fight for equality,” he wrote on Twitter. “The grants are completely non-partisan and will be offered to those who demonstrate the greatest need and ability to close gaps in voting access.” 

Schwarzenegger added that the grants would be administered by the Schwarzenegger Institute at the University of Southern California. 

The states most affected by polling place closures include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia. 

Schwarzenegger has not indicated the exact funding set aside for the project.

“He hasn’t put a cap on it,” Daniel Ketchell, Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff, told Variety in a statement. “It’ll probably be a few million dollars.”

It is also unclear how many jurisdictions will apply for the grants, and if Schwarzenegger’s plan is even legal across all 50 states. Nonetheless, the former governor called the grants “one of the best investments I have ever made” in his letter to election officials, as was reported by Variety. 

“As I read stories about counties that only have one voting location for hundreds of square miles and people who wait in line for four hours to vote, I started thinking about this more and more and realized the solution is easy,” Schwarzenegger reportedly wrote in the letter. “If you have a budget problem that keeps you from reopening polling stations, I want to help.”