Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning that he expects to have online voter registration, which lawmakers approved last year and is being phased in, “up and going” by next fall. “I doubt that we’ll get it up by the May election, but we would like to have it by August and November, and for the March election next year,” Denney told legislative budget writers, “so that we have some time to iron out any bugs that we might find before the 2018 primary election.”
Denney’s budget request for next year of $3.9 million reflects a 22.4 percent increase from this year, in part because of a $660,000 planned upgrade to elections software. He’s also proposing adding a network administrator to the office at a cost of $92,000; Gov. Butch Otter is recommending funding the request. In addition, Denney is planning a $2.2 million upgrade to his office’s IT system for business filings; that’s already won lawmakers’ approval as a supplemental appropriation for the current year.