You asked for information on the development and operating costs of the statewide computerized voter registration system, as a follow-up to OLR Report 2002-R-0266.

The Office of the Secretary of the State provided the figures in this report to the Office of Fiscal Analysis.

SUMMARY

Since FY 1994-95, a total of $ 3. 925 million in bond funds has been authorized for the computerized voter registration (CVR) system and the campaign finance information system (CFIS) that the secretary of the state's office was required to develop. Over the course of three administrations (Secretary Pauline Kezer, Secretary Miles Rapoport, and Secretary Susan Bysiewicz), the office has spent $ 3,792,341 as follows:

CFIS	$ 1,249,284
CVR	$ 1,518,057
Equipment and hardware for the CFIS and CVR	$ 1,025,000

With respect to operating costs for the CVR system, the secretary's office indicates that $ 1,750,666 has been spent since FY 1996-97. The greatest portion of that (59%) has gone to the state's own Department of Information Technology (DOIT) for ISDN lines and network charges. For the last completed fiscal year, the operating costs were $ 455,072.

BOND AUTHORIZATIONS

Table 1 shows the bond authorizations approved by the General Assembly since FY 1993-94 for development of the statewide computerized voter registration system. Since FY 1995-96, the authorizations combined funds for development of the campaign filing and management system with the CVR system funds.

Table 1: Bond Authorizations

FY	Bond Funds	Authorizing Legislation
1994	$ 500,000	SA 93-2, JSS
1995	750,000	SA 93-2, JSS
1996	525,000	SA 95-20*
1997	500,000	SA 95-20*
1998	900,000	SA 97-1 JSS*
1999	750,000	SA 97-1 JSS*
Total	$ 3,925,000

*Authorization included funds for Campaign Filing and Management System.

Table 2 shows the bond allocations for the authorized projects. The amount of bond funds spent exclusively on the centralized voter registration system is $ 1,518,057. In addition, an unspecified portion of $ 1,025,000 has been spent on equipment and hardware for the project.

Table 2: Bond Allocations

FY 1994-95 to FY 2001-2002

*Balance Allocated Pending Invoice for Voter Registration Project

GENERAL FUND AND COMMERCIAL RECORDING DIVISION EXPENDITURES

Table 3 shows the spending for the centralized voter registration system since FY 1996-97 from the General Fund budget of the Office of the Secretary of the State. The total amount includes $ 319,415 for FY 2001-02 from the secretary's Commercial Recording Division, rather than the General Fund. PA 01-9, June Special Session authorized the secretary to pay up to $ 700,000 of the annual costs the system incurs in FYs 2001-02 and 2002-03 for the computerized voter registration system from the commercial recording account.

Table 3: Centralized Voter Registration System

Office of the Secretary of the State

General Fund Expenditures

*$ 31,701 from the General Fund; $ 319,415 from the Commercial Recording Account.

The vendors listed in the chart provided the following services:

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