Secretary of State seeks recurring funds for voter guide, IT subscriptions and succession planning

At a Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee hearing, Secretary of State Phil McGrane and Legislative Services Office analyst Christopher Lahoset reviewed the agency’s FY26 enhancement requests, which center on elections infrastructure, public information and continuity in the business services division.

The most prominent request is for an ongoing appropriation to produce and mail an Idaho voter guide to all households. Lahoset said the office requests $400,000 ongoing from the general fund — estimated as $300,000 for mailing and $100,000 for printing — and he corrected a typographical error in the budget book during his presentation.

McGrane told the committee the voter guide is a high‑demand item. “There’s a strong demand for it,” he said, noting polls and voter feedback. He said the voter guide differs from the prior voter pamphlet because the voter guide would include candidate information for both primary and general elections and be mailed in both cycles.

Other requests and recent investments Lahoset reviewed other FY26 requests: - One-time double-fill for deputy business director: one-time personnel funding to hire and train a successor prior to the current deputy’s planned 2026 retirement (no permanent FTP increase requested). - Software subscriptions: $287,100 ongoing to cover software-as-a-service costs for the new campaign finance and lobbyist systems and other website and public-records plug-ins. Lahoset reported the agency’s base software subscription budget is about $775,000. - IT training: $20,000 ongoing for training and conferences. - Idaho Blue Book and Constitution: periodic production costs (postage has risen substantially; Lahoset noted USPS moved first-class postage from $0.60 to $0.73 since 2022). - One-time IT replacement: funding to replace monitors, docking stations and about 10 laptops.

McGrane summarized recent IT work paid from a 2024 one‑time appropriation. He said his office has deployed three major IT projects since the committee’s prior investment: a new campaign finance system, a new lobbyist reporting system and the Vote Idaho voter-information website. He told lawmakers the office spent about $2.9 million of the $10 million one-time election-systems appropriation and that an RFP for the core election management system is in evaluation; he said bids ranged between roughly $5.6 million and $9.4 million.

Business services, revenue and funding structure McGrane emphasized the volume of business filings his office handles — “over 800,000 business filings” last year — and that the agency generates revenue in excess of its expenditures, depositing net revenue to the general fund rather than holding a dedicated fund. He requested the double-fill to avoid leadership gaps in a high-volume office.

Committee questions and next steps Members questioned specific items, including postage assumptions, the logic for making the voter guide an annual budget item (McGrane said primary and general elections fall in different fiscal years) and a one-time $26,000 fee to upgrade federal DMV access (explained as a federal one‑time upgrade assessment; ongoing access remains subscription-based).

Ending Committee members asked for clarifications on postage, subscription line-items, and the RFP evaluation for the county election management system. McGrane said the office will provide follow-up detail and thanked the committee for its prior investments in elections technology.