Georgia moves voter registration to cloud
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The Georgia Registered Voter Information System will be housed on FedRAMP-authorized Salesforce servers and give election officials a more secure and user-friendly system.
Georgia is replacing its current voter registration system with a Salesforce cloud-based platform.
The new system, called the Georgia Registered Voter Information System (GaRVIS), will be housed on secure Salesforce servers authorized by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) at the highest security level – the same level the company uses for its most sensitive government clients, according to an announcement by the Georgia Secretary of State. It will be used for the 2022 election and will be online in March.
Technology consulting firm MTX Group is the implementation partner developing the user interface that Georgia’s elections officials will use as part of the Salesforce system. The changes to the voter registration process will be entirely on the administrative side, officials said. Georgia voters will not see any difference in their voting experience.
"This new system is more advanced, more secure and more user friendly and will give our election directors and my office new tools to better manage our election efforts," Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a Jan. 19 news conference.
The current system, ElectioNet, was deployed in 2013 and was initially unable to handle the high turnout associated with early voting in the 2020 election. During early voting, wait times exceeded eight hours before extra capacity was added, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Election Day voting went smoothly.
"Technology evolves just as our threat environment evolves," Raffensperger said. "Our team realized that we needed a faster, better, friendlier and more secure system, and that's why we chose this more secure technology platform."
GaRVIS will house the state's 7.7 million voter registration records and process early votes and absentee ballots. The new system will cost less than $3.5 million, a spokesman for Raffensperger's office said.
This upgrade is the result of a modernization initiative to build modern, scalable, resilient and secure technology for Georgia elections.
“Since day one, I have taken action to secure the vote in Georgia,” Raffensperger said. “This partnership with Salesforce and MTX Group will help ensure Georgia’s voting system is secure, reliable, efficient for years to come.”
County and local elections officials around the state have already been introduced to the new system and will be trained on it in the coming weeks and months, officials said. Following training, the new system will be launched statewide.
County and local elections offices will still be able to use the old system while learning to use the new one. ElectioNet will remain operational so it can be used as a backup if necessary.