Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen said this week that her office, in conjunction with county election administrators, decided not to implement the new election management system, ElectMT, at this time.

The decision came after a scheduled meeting between the SoS’s elections division, a representative of the county election administrators and the software vendor, according a release.

“The decision to implement a new system was a data-driven decision since the project began in 2019. If the established criteria had been met, the system would have been implemented. Montana will not launch an election management system that isn’t ready, and it’s not ready,” Jacobsen said in a release.“We all share the common goal of voter confidence, election integrity, and transparency. The strengths for election integrity in Montana include our election officials, paper ballots, post-election audits, and tabulating equipment that does not connect to the internet. The election system Montana uses is a key component of election integrity.”

The state partners with county election administrators for the project and that will continue, according to the release.

“The Secretary of State’s office will be discussing the next steps for the project with the software vendor. The new system, once ready, will provide a modern, user-friendly platform for local and state officials to administer elections,” according to the release.

“The state’s current election system, Montana Votes, was first launched statewide during the 2006 general election after nearly four years of development and testing. County election officials use it for a wide array of voter services, from registering voters and updating voter information to distributing and processing ballots, and will continue to do so as ElectMT development moves forward,” according a report by Montana Free Press.

The state will continue to use the current Montana Votes system in the meantime.

“Former Secretary of State Corey Stapleton announced the transition to a new system in 2019 and awarded a no-bid contract to the South Dakota firm BPro to take on the project. Stapleton intended to launch the new system in time for the 2020 election, but county officials pushed back, fearing a rushed implementation would create widespread problems during a high turnout election year. Stapleton ultimately decided to delay implementation, presenting 2021 as a more realistic goal,” according to the Montana Free Press.

BPro has since been acquired by KNOWiNK, a St. Louis-based company, according to Montana Free Press.

“In collaboration with a development team of 11 county election officials from across the state, developers put portions of the new system through a series of tests throughout the year. The plan also called for a parallel test of ElectMT alongside the Montana Votes system in select municipal elections this fall, but the new system wasn’t ready in time. Election officials in several counties maintain that the ability to run such a test and compare the results generated by the two systems is a crucial step in the transition,” according to Montana Free Press.