Behind Schedule: Replacing PA’s Outdated Voter Registration System

Replacement of the glitchy system is months behind schedule.

Over a year ago, the Pennsylvania Department of State canceled a contract to upgrade the state’s voter registration system. A replacement contract has not been drawn up. 

Since 2019, the state has attempted to upgrade the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors. The database holds the state’s voters and was built in the early 2000s. Local election officials have complained that the system is outdated, crashes, and is not capable of streamlining processes. 

In March of 2024, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt told state lawmakers that the department would release a new request for proposals in the spring, select a vendor by summer, and have a contract in place by the fall. A new vendor and a finalized contract have not been announced. 

Matt Heckel, a spokesperson for the department, said, “We feel confident we will have the new system fully operational by the 2028 election, if not before.”

The Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors is used to add, remove, or update the status of every voter in the state. Local election officials utilize the system to check voter registrations, manage mail ballots, and generate the poll books used in every election by poll workers.

In 2020, the department signed a $10.7 million contract with South Dakota-based elections software company BPro Inc. The project was scheduled to be complete by early 2023 and ready to use for the 2024 presidential election. 

Pennsylvania now has automatic voter registration.

There are about 1.6 million Pennsylvanians who are eligible to vote but aren’t registered.

This is a safe, secure, and streamlined way to be able to get them to register and participate in our democracy. pic.twitter.com/0R2PgfUZXm

— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) September 19, 2023

In December 2023, the Department of State agreed to cancel the contract, after it concluded that BPro Inc. “will not meet those timelines and contractual standards.”

Devin Rhoads, the election director for Snyder County, estimated each application for a mail ballot takes 10 to 15 minutes to process using the outdated Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors system. “That creates a big backlog, so either the SURE system needs to be fixed, or we need real early voting,” Rhoads said.

Local election officials are hopeful that a new system will be in place for the next presidential election.