Firms picked for voter registration system

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004 | 9:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A $4.6 million contract has been awarded to two companies to build a statewide voter registration system in time for the 2006 election to comply with the federal 2002 voting act.

Secretary of State Dean Heller said Covansys Corp. of Michigan, with offices in Carson City, and PCC Technology Group of Connecticut won the contract that requires the system to be completed by December 2005.

"A statewide voter registration system will help ensure that voter fraud in Nevada is a tough crime to pull off," Heller said Monday.

He said the bid by the two companies was the lowest of two submitted together with the lowest cost for the state to maintain the system. The state's share of the $4.6 million is 5 percent that was appropriated by the 2003 Legislature.

Renee Parker, chief deputy secretary of state, said the system will have a one-year warranty and a two-year maintenance agreement by the two companies that have contracts or have put in similar systems in Connecticut, Idaho, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

Citizens will still register in their counties, but as soon as their names are entered on the local register, they will be transferred into the state system. The system will be used to compare records from the state Department of Motor Vehicles and the state Bureau of Vital Statistics to identify those who may be potentially ineligible to vote under federal laws and regulations.

"The centralized system will allow our 17 county clerks/registrars of voters to verify in one all-inclusive system the registration status of all citizens throughout the state, thereby producing even cleaner elections in the future," Heller said.

The only other bidder was Votec/SAIC/ESS.

The state Board of Examiners, which meets Dec. 7, must give final approval to the contract.