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Secretary of State seeks funding for voter guide, cyber and ongoing IT subscriptions
Summary
Secretary of State Phil McGrane described several FY26 budget requests to the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee including an ongoing voter guide appropriation, software subscription increases, a one‑time deputy business director double‑fill and equipment replacement.
Christopher Lahoset, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, briefed the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on the Secretary of State’s FY26 budget requests.
Lahoset said the office has 35.5 FTP authorized, with roughly half a vacancy noted in the summer snapshot and that last year the legislature approved a one‑time $10 million appropriation for an elections system upgrade (about $2.5 million spent to date and the remainder reappropriated into FY25). He summarized eight enhancement requests for FY26.
The chief requests presented included a $400,000 ongoing appropriation for a voter guide mailed to all Idaho households (estimated $300,000 for mailing and $100,000 for printing); one‑time funding to double‑fill the deputy business director role to allow a year of overlap for training before the current deputy retires; ongoing software subscription increases (about $287,100) for campaign finance and lobbyist reporting systems and other cloud services; and a one‑time $26,000 fee related to a federal DMV database upgrade to validate voter registration information.
Phil McGrane, Secretary of State, told the committee the voter guide is his top policy initiative and noted strong public support in polls for distributing a voter guide with candidate information for both primary and general elections. He described the timing issue: primary elections fall in even‑numbered fiscal years and general elections in odd‑numbered fiscal years, so a standing annual appropriation would support both cycles.
On the elections systems upgrade funded with prior one‑time money, McGrane said the office has spent just under $2.9 million so far and is evaluating bids for a new election management system; bids ranged from about $5.6 million to $9.4 million and approximately $7.1 million remained from the $10 million appropriation for that project.
Committee members questioned the one‑time DMV fee, postage and why the voter guide would be funded annually. McGrane said the DMV fee is a one‑time federal upgrade cost passed through to users and that postage increases are a driver for the blue book and voter‑mailing costs.
Ending: The committee received the presentation and asked for clarifying materials. No votes were taken during the hearing; the office will provide line‑item backup and respond to committee follow‑up requests.
