Voter Registration Modernization

The California Secretary of State and Department of General Services are engaged in a multi-year project to develop and implement a new statewide voter registration database. The new database, called VoteCal, will replace the existing database, called CalVoter, and is scheduled to be in full operation by June 2016.

The California Voter Foundation has been monitoring the development of VoteCal since its inception in 2007, when the first Request for Proposals was issued. A contract for the project was initially awarded in 2009 with a project completion date of 2012. The initial contract was, however, terminated due to the vendor's failure to post a $2 million performance bond and confusion between the Secretary of State and Department of General Services over management and oversight responsibilities. A second Request for Proposals was issued in 2011 and a new contract was awarded to CGI Technologies and Solutions, Inc. in March 2013.

Below are some resources to help the public monitor implementation of this important project, which, when completed, will give all California voters access to lookup tools to let them check their registration status, polling place location and vote-by-mail status online, in addition to other benefits for voters. It will also create greater efficiency in California's voter registratioon process, reduce waste and confusion, enable greater voter participation by allowing for same-day voter registration, and make California compliant with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002.

CVF Policy Brief: VoteCal and the Struggle to Modernize California’s Statewide Voter Registration Database
California Secretary of State's VoteCal homepage
CVF's Summary of VoteCal Deliverables
CVF's VoteCal Recommendations and Functionality Questions (Feb. 2014 memo)
Bureau of State Audits' 2013 report on the Secretary of State's expenditure of HAVA funds (including VoteCal project costs)
Secretary of State's report to the Legislature for its February 2011 project oversight hearing (includes historic timeline of activities and lessons learned from first contract)
Secretary of State's periodic reports to the Legislature on VoteCal status, 2009-2012
General requirements and features (as detailed in Addendum 11 of the Request for Proposals, beginning with p. VI-18)

Related Research:

Expanding Democracy: Voter Registration Around the World (2009), published by the Brennan Center

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