Surprise bill, uncertain future prompts Smith County to switch voter registration system vendors

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A surprise bill and an uncertain future has resulted in Smith County changing vendors for their voter registration system.

An important decision concerning the system used to handle sensitive voter information that’s vital to our elections.

“It’s really not a chance we can take when it comes to elections,” said Smith County Elections Administrator Michelle Allcon.

Allcon is talking about the risk of staying with their current voter registration system vendor: VOTEC. In March, the California-based company sent a letter asking Texas counties to pay a surprise surcharge in an effort to help the company stay afloat in the midst of financial trouble.

“What’s odd to me is that if the corporation is having financial difficulties, then every county that uses any of their products should be receiving notice and they do have counties and other states, but it was just Texas and it was just those that use this specific type of software,” Allcon said.

The VOTEC system used by Smith County has nothing to do with the equipment you see at the polling location. Instead, it’s the system that maintains and records all voter data. It is used when changing someone’s address, sending notices, and even mapping for ballot-making.

“They were either untruthful with us upfront or untruthful with us now. It’s one of the two,” said John Moore, Pct. 2 commissioner.

During their Tuesday morning meeting, Smith County commissioners had a decision to make: either stay with the current vendor and take a big risk with the November election, or go with another company and assume the risks involved with transferring data.

“I mean, I don’t like it when I make a deal with somebody and basically renege on that deal and just hold you hostage. And it seems like what they’re trying to do here,” said Terry Phillips, Pct. 3 commissioner.

Ultimately, the court voted to enter into a contract with another company, VR Systems, jump-starting the process of transferring voter registration data from one system to the other, which should begin by the end of this week.

“I would say don’t be concerned,” Allcon said when asked about concerns from voters. “One of the reasons I was pushing to do this now was so that we would have all of this summer to transfer over that data for my office to test it to make sure it’s accurate and complete before the November election starts.”

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