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Department says SHOR replacement won’t be ready for 2026 general election; emphasizes county testing and security
Summary
Department of State officials told legislators the statewide voter‑registration (SHOR) replacement is under contract but will not be deployed in time for the 2026 general election; they said the state terminated a prior contract, signed a new vendor less than a year ago, and will prioritize security, county input and accountability before rollout.
Department of State leaders told the Appropriations Committee they had terminated a problematic vendor contract in late 2023 and signed a new vendor for the SHOR statewide voter‑registration replacement about a year ago, but they do not expect the replacement to be in place for the 2026 general election.
"The new SHOR replacement system would certainly not be in place by general 2026," Secretary Al Schmidt said. "We would never release a system ... that is anything less than as good as it could be with our county partners informing every step of the way."
Schmidt and Deputy Secretary Jonathan Marks described the decision to delay as deliberate: the department said it will not deploy a new registration system in the middle of a presidential/general election cycle. They listed security, usability for county election administrators and accountability as key criteria and said the rollout will be informed by county partners and include dry runs (the department has already used dry runs in recent special elections).
On user experience and future licensure IT projects, a stakeholder described features of the Evoque (Evoke/Evogue) licensing vendor that will make licensing more mobile friendly and reduce internal workflow steps. Secretary Schmidt said the professional‑licensing modernization (PALS/Evoke) is planned for a 2027 implementation and will follow a single, carefully staged rollout to avoid disrupting current processing gains.
Lawmakers asked whether the department can guarantee the new system will be secure, maintain accurate records and provide internal controls. The department responded that it would not release a system that fails those tests and reiterated its commitment to county collaboration, security testing and built‑in accountability.
