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Secretary of State Michael Watson asks for technology funding, details voter‑roll cleanup and new outreach tools
Summary
Secretary of State Michael Watson told the subcommittee he seeks $3.97 million to finish a new elections and campaign‑finance system (with a recurring $1.7M cloud cost thereafter), described HAVA‑funded geospatial purchases to reduce local mapping errors, and highlighted post‑election audits and new two‑way 'text my gov' election notifications.
Secretary of State Michael Watson briefed the committee on multiple election‑related initiatives and technology requests, describing cost savings, new tools and ongoing legal disputes.
Watson said the office will move into a state‑owned building to save roughly $500,000 annually and has purchased improved geospatial data using Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds that can be shared with local governments to reduce mapping errors at the precinct level. He told lawmakers the purchase will reduce mistakes where addresses are incorrectly assigned to districts.
On technology, the secretary requested reappropriation and additional funding to complete a new elections and campaign‑finance platform: roughly $3.97 million to finish the build and implementation, and an expected recurring cloud‑service cost of about $1.7 million once the system is live. Watson said the previous system’s code was secured in litigation, reducing earlier recurring costs, but the new cloud implementation generates new recurring expenses.
Watson also highlighted voter‑roll cleaning efforts, noting state matches with other states showed roughly 7,000 registrations duplicated with Alabama and that the office has helped register “roughly 400,000 voters since my time in office.” He described the state’s adoption of post‑election audits (nearing 30 counties) and a new two‑way ‘text my gov’ tool that will notify voters about upcoming elections and let precinct officials report suspicious activity.
On litigation, the secretary acknowledged outstanding lawsuits with Biloxi related to recent licensing questions and said the office continues to negotiate. Committee members asked about cost details and implementation timing; the secretary said some funds requested are reappropriations of previously approved dollars and asked the committee for authority to spend funds already in agency accounts.
