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What happened?
The Pennsylvania Department of State said Wednesday that it signed a new $10.6 million contract with Louisiana-based technology company Civix to upgrade the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors, or SURE, and integrate it with other state-run election systems.
The SURE system is a statewide database used by counties to register voters and maintain their records, print poll books, process mail ballot applications, and carry out many of the functions necessary to run elections.
The contract calls for Civix to integrate the functions of the SURE system with the state’s election night reporting, campaign finance, and lobbying disclosure systems, creating a system that the department called a “one-stop-shop elections administration experience.”
The new system will include a public portal that will “serve as the centralized home” for those looking for guidance documents issued by the department, elections data, information about upcoming elections, and more, the department said in a press release.
Why does it matter?
The state has been trying for years to upgrade the SURE system, which was built in the early 2000s. Local election officials complain that the system is outdated and has a tendency to crash, sometimes in the critical period just before an election when counties need it the most.
It was also built before the state adopted no-excuse mail voting in 2019. Because of this, county election directors say the interface for processing mail ballot applications isn’t optimal, and it can take as long as 15 minutes to process a single application. This caused long lines last November when voters tried to use Pennsylvania’s unique method of early voting, which requires voters to come to the county elections office, apply for, and turn in a mail ballot, all in one trip.
The state began seeking a company to upgrade the system in 2019 and signed a $10.7 million contract shortly after the 2020 election, with a goal of having a new system in place for the 2024 election. But the department canceled the contract in 2023 after concluding that the company could not meet the timeline and contractual standards, according to an email sent to counties at the time.
Users of the campaign finance and lobbying disclosure systems have also complained that those tools are outdated and cumbersome.
What are officials saying?
Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said the department decided to expand the SURE upgrade project to include other systems because he heard from the public and from state lawmakers about the need to also “make lobbying disclosure, campaign finance and election night reporting more user friendly.”
Thad Hall, Mercer County’s election director, said having a system that integrates various functions isn’t uncommon. He also said he was more optimistic about the project this time around, given changes at the department such as the hiring of a project manager and modernization officer. He praised the department for notifying election directors about the new contract in a call before the press release went out.
“It kind of shows their commitment to making sure election directors are an integral part of this process,” he said.
What happens now?
As of Wednesday afternoon, a copy of the contract was not yet available on the Pennsylvania Treasury Department’s website. A department spokesperson said officials expect to have a detailed timeline of the project within the next few weeks, and it should be complete by 2028, the press release said.
Read more of Votebeat and Spotlight PA’s recent coverage of the SURE system:
- Pennsylvania’s upgrade of glitchy voter registration system falls further behind schedule
- Cancellation of project to upgrade Pa.’s outdated voter roll system leaves election officials with no relief in sight
Carter Walker is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at cwalker@votebeat.org.
