Quest Information Systems Selected to Create Statewide Voter Registration System

Indianapolis, IN - Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced today that Indiana owned and operated software development, integration and consulting firm Quest Information Systems has been selected to develop Indiana's first statewide voter registration system, pending successful contract negotiations.

The federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) requires states to implement a statewide voter registration system by January 1, 2006. Creation of the statewide voter registration system in Indiana is expected to cost $9.3 million.

"Creating the statewide voter registration system is vitally important to voters and the electoral process in Indiana. The statewide voter registration system will bring election administration into the 21st century and ensure the integrity of Indiana's elections by creating one accurate and complete list of Indiana's voters. This is a significant challenge, but one for which Quest is well qualified. I look forward to working with Quest over the next several years as we implement this important election reform," said Rokita.

The statewide voter registration system will, for the first time, merge all 92 county voter registration databases together in real-time and link to it databases from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Social Security Administration and the Indiana Departments of Health and Corrections.

Currently, voter registration lists are maintained separately in each of Indiana's 92 counties. By linking the statewide voter registration system to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Social Security Administration and the Indiana Departments of Health and Corrections, state and local voter registration officials will know in real-time when a voter alters his/her voter registration, changes residences, is incarcerated or passes away. Working under the strict auspices of the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, commonly known as "Motor Voter," the statewide voter registration system will create a single, accurate list of Indiana registered voters.

"Inaccurate voter registration lists not only drive up costs of administering elections, they also serve as an invitation for voter fraud. Because Indiana's voter rolls are artificially inflated by numerous duplicate and erroneous registrations, the statewide voter registration system will reduce the cost of election administration in local jurisdictions, minimize the potential for fraud and allow for a more accurate assessment of voter turnout," Rokita said.

Quest, with clients in government and business, has done extensive work with the Indiana Election Division, including creating the Campaign Finance Reporting System and implementing the Duplicate Voter Elimination Project. Quest was also the primary application design and development provider for the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles STARS system. The STARS system is a browser-based business system that integrates with the BMV mainframe and other legacy systems and supports as many as 800 users in all 92 counties.

The selection of Quest is the culmination of more than 15 months of work by the Vote Indiana Team, a tri-partisan working group assembled by Secretary Rokita in 2003. The Vote Indiana Team includes representatives of the Indiana General Assembly, minority groups, military voters, voters with disabilities, county election and voter registration officials, and the media. The vendor selection process was aided by the Vote Indiana Team's Statewide Voter Registration System Steering Committee and the participation of local county clerks and voter registration officials.