JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A legislative committee has approved replacing an electronic voting system used by Alaska lawmakers that has been described as outdated and failing.

The Legislative Council on Monday approved a request for $912,700 to replace hardware and software. Council members also approved a $91,270 contingency.

Information technology manager Tim Banaszak wrote in a memo that the annual maintenance cost will be $17,300.

In the memo, he says the system no longer reliably functions and experiences outages despite vendor, technical and support staff efforts. He says parts of the system are more than 20 years old.

The voting system is used in the House and Senate chambers during floor sessions at the state Capitol.

Banaszak says the upgrade was delayed by the Capitol renovation project, special sessions, costs and other priority upgrades.

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