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Assembly committee hears Secretary of State’s $26.7 million request to finish statewide voter-registration and election management system
Summary
Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar asked lawmakers for roughly $26.7 million to complete phases 2 and 3 of Nevada’s voter registration and election management solution (VRAMS), describing vendor, testing and AVR pipeline costs; proponents urged funding and opponents asked for accountability for prior appropriations.
Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar told the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means the Office of the Secretary of State needs a one-time appropriation of roughly $26.7 million to complete phases 2 and 3 of the voter registration and election management solution (VRAMS).
“This system ensured Nevadan's elections were more transparent, secure, and accessible than ever before,” Aguilar said, describing earlier phases that unified county election software and hardware. He said phase 2 — merging Clark County systems with the statewide TotalVote installation — is under way and that phase 3 includes a new voter portal, improvements to automatic voter registration (AVR) connectivity and other features intended to increase transparency and voter access.
Chief Deputy Gabriel De Cara provided the committee a budget breakdown: approximately $10 million for the system vendor and related development and hosting costs; about $12 million in other costs that include $600,000 for mock elections, $2.6 million for independent IV&V services, roughly $9 million for contractor staff affiliated with the state, and roughly $3.4 million to improve AVR pipelines between DMV and other agencies.
Assemblymembers asked whether the funding would speed post-election processing. Aguilar said the system provides data that helps counties identify bottlenecks; he cited Clark County’s processing capacity as a constraint and said the goal is to increase the percentage of ballots reported on election night by improving county capacity and processes.
Supporters who testified in person and by phone included the Center for Safe and Modern Elections, Silver State Voices, the Latin Nevadans Vote Coalition, All Voting Local Action and other civic groups that said the system makes election administration more efficient and transparent.
One caller, Kimberly Fergus, testified in opposition and asked the Legislature to demand accountability for prior appropriations. Fergus said about $30 million had previously been allocated to the Secretary of State in 2021, of which she said $8.9 million had been spent and about $23.6 million remained tied up in vendor contracts; she urged lawmakers to identify holdups and renegotiate agreements before authorizing more funds. She also said the bill’s description was vague about kiosk deployment and asked for clearer spending detail.
The Secretary of State’s office acknowledged the prior funding history and said some previously expected carryover funds could not practically be reinserted into the current bill at LCB. De Cara said the office believes it can complete the project with the funds in the bill but that the office would support a conceptual amendment adding previously reverted funds if the Legislature chooses to do so.
No committee vote on AB 562 occurred at the hearing; the committee closed the public portion after testimony and moved on to other bills.
