Schuylkill County is in line for $473,700 in new state election funding.

But there are some trade-offs.

Commissioners on Wednesday agreed to apply to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for the Election Integrity Grant.

All three commissioners, Gary J. Hess and George Halcovage Jr. and Chairman Barron L. Hetherington, voted to apply for the grant.

If approved, they may get the money as soon as September.

Gov. Tom Wolf on July 11 signed into law a bill that sets aside $45 million for the grants, which are administered through the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

The amount each county is eligible for is based on the number of voters in the previous primary election.

The money can be used for many purposes, including training, paying employees, printing ballots and securing voting machines.

However, the legislation forbids election bureaus in counties getting the grants from accepting money from private sources. It also requires election staff to count mail-in ballots after the polls close on election night without a break until they are all tallied.

“But we’ve always done that here in our county anyway,” said election chief Al Gricoski.

He said the money would be used for purchasing ballots, registering voters, sending out notices, security and other expenses.

“The grant should take care of the majority of the expense for the Election Bureau,” he said.

Hess called the grant a “great idea. It’s nice to see funding come back” to the county. This is a big help so the burden is not placed solely on the backs of the taxpayers here.”