Statewide Voter Registration System Update

Contact: AJ Freeney-Ruiz
317-233-8655
Media@sos.in.gov

Indianapolis, IN - More than five months after beating the January 1, 2006 deadline for implementing Indiana's first statewide voter registration system (SVRS), the Secretary of State's office continues its monthly update regarding the implementation of SVRS, powered by FirstTuesday , a software program developed by Quest Information Systems.

Following March's successful week-long mock election test of SVRS, Indiana's first statewide voter file was put through its first real-world Election Day run during the May 2, 2006 Primary Election. The system manages the voter roll for the entire state, and all 92 counties access it to perform a variety of tasks before, after, and during Election Day. Most county officials throughout the state experienced few issues using Indiana's first statewide voter registration system.

"The May 2 Primary marked the first successful election using Indiana's new statewide voter file," said Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita. "Leadership and teamwork paved the way toward the completion of this system - one of, if not the most, complex IT project in state history - and county feedback has been overwhelmingly positive concerning its performance in a real election."

With over 400,000 hits on Election Day, county officials throughout the state cited the system's Polling Place Locator as being a huge asset in reducing their local call volumes on Election Day. "It has been an awesome day for us. We have had no problems in Spencer County," said Circuit Court Clerk Ann Jochim in the closing hours of the election. "The Polling Place Locator has been a fabulous tool." Lawrence County Circuit Court Clerk Julie Chase echoed Jochim's remarks that day by saying, "This has been, believe it or not, one of the easiest Election Days!"

Boding well for the increased numbers expected in the General Election, the system registered approximately 4,500 voter searches per hour at its peak with the system's server only working at a fraction of its available capacity during the Primary Election. A Rapid Response Ground team deployed by the Office of the Secretary of State revealed only typical Election Day issues at midday and afternoon conference calls.

Identified as an improvement to be completed following the Primary Election, upgrades to the system will identify and correct any voter records that happened to be placed in the wrong precinct. The upgrade will include efforts to clean up local county maps by augmenting them with satellite images as well as other sources. Another enhancement will further improve precinct placement. Both of these efforts are scheduled for completion by the end of July. Additionally, speed and performance of the system will continue to improve throughout the summer, and a targeted list of modifications requested by county and state officials to make the system's interface more user-friendly will be made later this summer.

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