The Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) Commissioner Susan Beals announced the award of a prime contract to the Baltimore, Maryland-based company, The Canton Group to build and implement the state’s new statewide voter registration system. ELECT selected The Canton Group – along with our subcontractors Provista and Penacity – as our references validated a high level of customer service, responsiveness, caliber of resources, and delivery.
The move to a new system comes after recent technical and operational problems complicated the work of local registrars. The state is currently using an aging system – known as VERIS – which is being blamed for past delays and issues. The current administration campaigned on the issue of election integrity, and a promise to bring a supposed private-sector efficiency to public service. Work under this effort will include development, customization, configuration, data conversion, delivery, installation, implementation, integration, testing and acceptance, user training, and mock elections.
“As election technology and security requirements have increased, the need to replace our current voter registration system has become imperative. Due to the critical importance of this project, this procurement was subject to the state’s high-risk requirements, including review by the Virginia Information Technology Agency and the Office of the Attorney General. There is broad support for replacing VERIS, and we were determined to obtain the best solution capable of serving the Commonwealth for years to come,” said Beals.
The new system will include expanded candidate management tools, enhanced features for absentee voting, streamlined voter registration workflows (including preregistration of 16-year-olds), same-day-registration enhancements, and increased capabilities for election security. ELECT will partner with local general registrars to evaluate and review new functionality as it is developed and implemented.
The prime contract holds a total value of $13.5 million and covers multiple project phases. Project initiation will begin immediately with a kick-off meeting and a three months-long project organization and planning period. The initial project planning phase will finalize project governance for the project implementation. The implementation of the new voter registration system is expected to take 24 months after the completion of the planning period with a go-live date projected for February 2025.
Read full press release from ELECT - https://www.elections.virginia.gov/news-releases/contract-awarded-for-new-voter-registration-system.html
