Maryland is set to update its electronic pollbook vendor for the first time in close to twenty years as part of a larger overhaul to the state’s voting system.
Last week, the Maryland Board of Public Works approved new vendor Tenex Software Solutions to modernize the state’s electronic pollbook, which verifies voter eligibility at polling locations.
Legacy vendor Election Systems and Software (ES&S) has been operating Maryland’s pollbook since 2006, but the State Board of Elections (SBE) says the current system has outperformed its lifespan.
SBE hoped to have a new pollbook up and running for the 2024 election after awarding a contract to DemTech Voting Solutions a few years back, but the company underestimated the complexity and resources required to implement a working system before the deadline of Summer 2023.
State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis says this failure left Maryland scrambling, prompting SBE to extend its contract with ES&S – the state had to buy 140 pollbooks from Georgia to compensate.
“We did an emergency procurement to buy every additional pollbook that was in that capability. I think there is no more in the world, except in the state of Maryland right now. So we're doing well for the 2026 election here, but we'll get it done,” DeMarinis told the Board of Public Works Wednesday.
Tenex was one of only two voting companies that submitted a viable bid for the contract, which sparked concern for Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman, but DeMarinis says he’s confident Tenex can get the job done.
“Tenex is a reputable company – we have made sure about it. We've done our vetting process of it, and we went through a highly technical evaluation of the equipment, making sure that it meets all our standards,” he said.
Tenex was awarded a $40 million contract to operate the state’s pollbook for the 2028 and 2030 election cycles with a two-year renewal option, which would total almost $60.5 million.
DeMarinis launched a new campaign finance system months ago, and he says finalizing a new voting equipment contract is underway in an effort to revamp the state’s entire voting system.
“We're now in the technical evaluation process of that contract phase. So that is moving along for 2028 implementation, as well. And then the last one will be, we're going to be modernizing our voter registration database as well,” he told the board.
The state will use the current pollbook system and voting machines for the 2026 elections.
