Collin County court approves new voter-registration and poll-book system after vendor collapse; officials require printed wet-signature option

Collin County—s commissioners on Monday approved contracts to move the county—s voter-registration and electronic poll-book systems to VR Systems and to adopt a ballot-on-demand check-in workflow, after the county—s previous vendor signaled it could no longer support operations.

The decision follows public comment urging the court not to adopt electronic signature capture and several days of rapid vendor and technical work by county elections and IT staff. Cable Breaux, Collin County elections administrator, told the court the new system can be deployed quickly and that the vendor can print a label that preserves an ink (wet) signature for post-election verification.

Why it matters: The county—s existing vendor, Votec, told counties in Texas it was raising maintenance fees and then informed the state that it might cease operations, an action that put Collin County on a fast timetable to secure a replacement. County officials said a gap in support could leave poll books and voter-record access at risk for upcoming elections; updating both the voter-registration system (VR) and poll books to a certified, aligned vendor reduces the risk of two vendors blaming each other during a…