North Carolina creates commission to aid elections system upgrade

North Carolina’s state auditor on Thursday announced a new commission that will aid the state’s efforts to update its election management system.

The new 22-member consortium, mainly consisting of county elections directors and board members, is tasked with reviewing public comments and “adding insightful comments” related to the development of two new system upgrades announced last Halloween. Other commission duties, according to a press release, include “evaluating submissions and vendors, offering feedback on functional needs and user applications, making recommendations on final proposals, assessing enhanced security protocols, and monitoring implementation.”

Officials have said that upgrades to North Carolina’s election management system and campaign finance reporting software are needed to correct glitches and broadly update technologies the state first developed in 1998.

North Carolina’s elections system, called the Statewide Elections Information Management System, is used by officials to coordinate statewide elections processes, voter registration, voter roll maintenance and election results reporting.

The Carolina Journal reported last October that the state carried 75,000 voters on its registration repair list, a record of voters without driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers recorded on their voter registrations. The Journal also reported a technical glitch that led some counties to inadvertently send registration letters to some voters.

According to the auditor’s announcement Thursday, the state has so far issued a request for information that gathered input from the public and vendors, and issued a request for proposals. The new commission will help decide which proposal is selected. In the press release, state Auditor Dave Boliek said the state’s “deep bench of election professionals,” who routinely interact with voters, will help North Carolina select a new system that is “secure, user-friendly.”