Secretary of State seeks ongoing funding for voter guide, software and staff transition

Christopher Lahoset, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, briefed the committee on the Secretary of Statebudget, highlighting a $10 million one-time appropriation for election system upgrades and several FY2026 enhancement requests.

Phil McGrane, Idaho Secretary of State, described the voter guide proposal as a top policy priority. McGrane said polling shows voters want a mailed voter guide and that the office intends to produce candidate-inclusive guides for both primary and general elections. "My number 1 policy initiative since I took office has been a voter guide," McGrane said, adding the office estimates $300,000 for mailing and $100,000 for printing per cycle.

The FY2026 requests include $400,000 ongoing for the voter guide, one-time funding to double-fill a deputy business director position so a successor can train for a year prior to retirement, $287,100 for ongoing software-as-a-service subscriptions (including campaign finance and lobbyist systems), $20,000 ongoing for IT training, and periodic funding to print and distribute the Idaho Blue Book and constitution. Lahoset also noted an ongoing base of roughly $775,000 for software and cloud storage at the agency.

McGrane summarized recent IT work funded from the prior $10 million appropriation: campaign finance, lobbyist reporting, and VoteIdaho website improvements. He said the office has spent about $2.9 million of the $10 million investment so far and is evaluating bids for a county election management system upgrade, with bids ranging from $5.6 million to $9.4 million. "We've already rolled out 3 major IT projects," McGrane said, and confirmed an RFP process is underway to select an election management system vendor.

Committee members asked why a $26,000 one-time fee was required to access a DMV database; McGrane explained a federal vendor upgrade is being charged as a one-time pass-through and noted an ongoing subscription fee remains. Members also asked about frequency of the voter guide and whether the printing should align with election cycles; McGrane said the fiscal-year timing makes an annual appropriation practical because primary and general elections fall in alternating fiscal years.

The office reported it receives substantial fee-based business filings revenue (over 800,000 business filings last year) and returns more to the general fund annually than it takes in appropriations. The secretary said fees are deposited to the general fund rather than to a dedicated fund. Committee members asked about turnover, and McGrane defended the double-fill request as a one-time measure to transfer institutional knowledge in the business-filings area.

No formal committee vote was taken; the committee followed up with questions about software subscription and printing costs and asked the agency to supply further details as needed.