The state has hit a snag in its drive to develop a centralized voter registration system – indeed, Secretary of State Gigi Dennis recently fired the contractor who was putting it together. Even so, she expects the delay will be brief, and we hope she’s right – Colorado is missing a federal deadline, and the system is supposed to be available for next year’s elections.
Having said that, caution is certainly in order here, given problems the state has had in modernizing its computer systems.
Colorado will miss the Jan. 1 federal deadline for the voter system, but we don’t find that particularly worrisome so long as the state meets its next target – Dennis hopes to have the voter system ready to test by April 2006 for use in the August primaries. Spokeswoman Dana Williams said quick implementation is possible by creating a “bottom-up” system instead of the “top-down” system that the fired contractor was trying to develop. A bottom-up system takes county voter registration data and feeds it into a new state system. “The top-down system would have replaced what counties are using,” said Williams. “Instead, we will use what counties currently have.”
Making the state system compatible with different systems from dozens of counties doesn’t sound simple to us, but Williams says state officials will explore all options before making a final decision.
No one wants to see another botched project, like the $200 million income benefits system, still not working 15 months after it went online. Coloradans also learned this week that a $39 million Department of Labor computer system doesn’t work.
Dennis canceled the $10.5 million registration contract after spending just $1.5 million. Williams said the vendor, Accenture LLP, had “missed every deadline” since the contract was signed in 2004.
A centralized voter registration list is required by the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. Colorado has notified Washington of the delay. Federal officials say it’s possible they’ll take the state to court – we hope that won’t be necessary.
A central database will enable local voting officials to see instantly whether a person is properly registered or has voted elsewhere. The system could expedite use of less costly and more efficient central county voting centers and reduce the number of provisional ballots, which are cumbersome and must be counted by hand. In addition, a central database would reduce voter fraud.
These are very real advantages, and we look forward to the day Colorado has completed its modernization. Top down or bottom up, state voters must have confidence in the machinery of elections.
