[Fair Use: For Educational and Research Purposes Only]

Computers Bug the Elections Board

Source: Times Union Albany, NY Publication date: 2000-06-01

Troy Rocky transition to county's new system disrupts tracking of voter data

The ability of the Rensselaer County Board of Elections staff to track voter registrations, addresses and other vital information has been seriously disrupted by a rocky transition to a new countywide computer system, state and local elections officials say.

And one state official said the computer difficulties are complicating other efforts to develop a standardized system of procedures for the county board, where she said more written policies should be in place to guide the staff.

Anna Svizzero, director of election operations at the state board, said she recently began a review in Rensselaer County in an effort to help the county "tighten up" its procedures. "There are a lot of problems that come up with a board when there isn't a consistent way of doing business," she said.

The county Board of Elections was the last county department to move off of the county's old mainframe computer late last year and begin a transition onto a new network. But, like other functions such as preparation of real property tax and assessment rolls, the process has been fraught with snags.

The county lost virtually all of its experienced programming staff in 1998 and 1999, and replacement contractors and new employees often were unfamiliar with county department needs and the many specialized adjustments that had been made in the old system.

Also, the county computer staffers from the Bureau of Research and Information Services are trying to tailor the new system to provide both the old services and some new ones requested by the departments.

Svizzero said the county might be wise to consider some "off the shelf" computer software products to meet Board of Elections needs, but both county commissioners said they are optimistic that the homegrown programs eventually will do the job as well as -- or better than -- the commercial products available.

"People who work in the department known as BRIS are trying hard," said Democrat Commissioner Thomas Wade. "Everything that we do here is totally unique to this department. It's unlike anything else in government."

As a result, he said, the process has been arduous and "there are glitches on glitches." Problems cropping up, so far, have included late reports to the state board and faulty voter enrollment lists.

One effort to generate a spring enrollment list this year produced about 600,000 entries, an obvious error since there are only about 100,000 registered voters in all of Rensselaer County, Wade said.

Strangely, another voter list gave the same address to everyone who had a change of party enrollment that took effect in January 1983, Wade said.

Meanwhile, the county also needs to match revised addresses related to the new 911 emergency call system with old voter address lists so that the corrected data can be inserted.

Still Wade, the county's senior elections commissioner, and his Republican counterpart, Larry Bugbee, said they aren't ready to give up on the county-developed system just yet.

"A lot of time has been invested in this by both our staff at the board and BRIS," said Wade, who said one software system purchased by the Schenectady County board cost around $50,000.

Bugbee said he believes the county-developed system also will have some specific local features that will make it superior to most generic voter software on the market.

"It's inconvenient, but we're still plugging along," Wade said.

http://realcities.yellowbrix.com/pages/realcities/Story.nsp?story_id=10943369&site=charlotte&ID=realcities&scategory=Computers%3AY2K

====================

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), June 03, 2000