The Escambia County Supervisor of Elections office announced Tuesday it is among 13 Florida counties receiving part of a $1.6 million federal grant to ensure military and overseas citizens can more easily vote in 2012 elections.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program grant will provide Escambia County with $178,500 over the next five years.

Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford said two years ago, Florida declined to apply for state grants that were offered for the same purpose before the 2010 elections.

Stafford testified before Congress earlier this year to advocate that local election officials should be able to apply for the grant even if their state was unwilling to participate. The request was granted and the Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections, Paul Lux, volunteered to be the lead county to apply for a collective grant.

The participating counties all have large populations of military personnel and serve major military installations across the state, Stafford said