LANSING – Michigan has about $25 million leftover in federal funding to update its voting equipment from when it received federal funding through the Helping America Vote Act passed in 2002, but the state still needs another potentially $35 million to get its voting equipment ready for the November 2018 general election when current systems will be more than a decade old, according to the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency.

Former President George W. Bush signed into law the Helping America Vote Act in 2002 due in part to the problems that arose in the 2000 presidential election. While Michigan’s voting procedures and equipment were relatively new at that time, it still received a total of $104.2 million in federal funds to update its equipment.

Of that, $34.3 million was used to replace punch card and lever-based systems and other standard voting equipment; $27.4 million was used to install voting machines that were fully accessible to individuals with disabilities, and $17.5 million was spent on meeting other federal requirements, leaving $25 million unspent.

But due to the expected life cycle of the voting machines replaced more than a decade ago, the time has come for Michigan to begin the process of replacing those systems, according to an analysis by the Senate Fiscal Agency. The Department of State estimates that replacement to cost between $55 million and $60 million, with the plan to replace those systems on a rolling basis over a three-to-four-year period, so getting those systems ready for the November 2018 general election will need to happen over the next few budget cycles.

An illustration of just how old the systems are, the analysis noted, is that the machines purchased between 2004 and 2006 use Microsoft Windows XP for their operating system, which has not been available for purchase since 2008, and for which Microsoft has not provided support or security updates for since 2014.

According to the Department of State, the SFA analysis said, the systems are due for replacement with systems that provide “better software and several other notable improvements, ‘especially with respect to the processing of optical scan ballots, the programming of voting systems and the resulting compilation and transmittal of elections night results, and options available to disabled voters.'”

Michigan is not alone in such an undertaking.

The analysis by SFA said it is generally agreed across the nation that the majority of the voting systems purchased with federal funds provided from 2004 to 2006 are beginning to reach the end of their useful life, and a January 2014 bipartisan report by the Presidential Commission on Election Administration issued a warning that an “impending crisis” was looming due to the widespread degradation of voting machines purchased during that time. Making matters worse, the report indicated jurisdictions do not have the funds to purchase new machines.

The Senate had included a $10 million appropriation for voting machine replacements in its budget recommendation for the fiscal year 2015-16, but that was ultimately eliminated by the conference committee and thus not included in the final enacted budget.

The Department of State, in conjunction with the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, in July issued a request for proposals for voting systems but will be issuing a new RFP in the coming weeks, Department of State spokesperson Fred Woodhams said.

“More information was needed for the state to make a confident decision to award the contracts,” Woodhams said. “Bureau of Elections and DTMB staff held de-briefing meetings with the vendors who did submit a proposal to advise them of what specific information will be needed when they resubmit their proposals.”

In the meantime, Woodhams said the department has been “encouraged” by its discussions with lawmakers about finding ways to pay for the new equipment for the 2018 cycle.