Secretary of State seeks ongoing funding for voter guide, software subscriptions after election system upgrades

Secretary of State Phil McGrane presented the agency’s FY26 budget requests to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, including a $400,000 ongoing appropriation for a statewide mailed voter guide, ongoing funding for software subscriptions, and a one‑time $26,000 payment tied to a federal DMV system upgrade.

Budget analyst Christopher Lahoset said the office has 35.5 FTP authorized with about a half‑position vacant and noted a prior one‑time legislative appropriation of $10 million in FY24 for an election system upgrade; about $2.5 million of that $10 million has been spent and the remainder reappropriated to FY25.

McGrane told the committee the voter guide has been his “number 1 policy initiative since I took office” and noted independent polling showing voters want a mailed guide with candidate information for primary and general elections. He said the primary/general election timing and fiscal-year breaks justify an ongoing annual appropriation to ensure guides are produced for both election cycles.

On technology, the office seeks $287,100 ongoing for software-as-a-service costs for campaign finance and lobbyist systems and $26,000 one‑time to cover a federal system upgrade fee that the office must pay to maintain DMV data access. McGrane said the office already pays a small recurring subscription for the database and that the $26,000 is a one‑time federal upgrade charge.

McGrane described IT accomplishments funded by prior appropriations: rollout of a new campaign finance system, a lobbyist reporting system, and the VoteIdaho public site. He said about $2.9 million of the $10 million investment has been spent to date and that the agency’s election management system RFP bids currently range from about $5.6 million to $9.4 million; the RFP evaluation was underway at the time of the hearing.

McGrane also described the office’s revenue generation from business filings and explained a one‑time personnel double‑fill request to train the successor to a deputy business director who plans to retire in 2026. “Just last year we had over 800,000 business filings with our office,” McGrane said, noting the office’s filing workload funds services and returns revenue to the general fund.

Committee members asked about cadence and funding for the voter guide, DMV access costs, and whether business‑filing revenues should be placed in a dedicated fund. The office said it has historically deposited fees to the general fund and draws its operating appropriation from the general fund. No formal votes were recorded during the presentation.