$1 million not enough for Heller

Cy Ryan

Saturday, April 1, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Secretary of State Dean Heller says he wants more than $1 million returned from a company that failed to produce a new voter registration system to comply with federal law.

And he wants Covansys Inc. of Farmington Hills, Mich., to pay for the statewide voter system that is now being installed.

"Our starting position is we want the money back and costs," he said.

Heller signed a contract with Covansys in January 2005 to develop a statewide computer registration system by Jan. 1, well before the 2006 election. He suspended the contract in February because there were too many problems with Covansys' system.

At the time, he said he intended to work with Covansys after the election to continue developing the system. But now he says he has "no intention of working with them after the election."

Michelle Jones, Covansys vice president of marketing, could not be reached for comment.

Heller said one reason Covansys was chosen was because of the indemnification clause in the contract. "If they don't complete the contract, they reimburse us. We also want them to cover the cost of the new system," he said.

The state is working with county officials to develop a new voter registration system, and it should be ready by mid-May, said Ellick Hsu, chief of elections in Heller's office.

Clark County Voter Registrar Larry Lomax said he was optimistic that the new system could be completed and approved by the federal government for the 2006 election.

Under the current plan, counties will send voter registrations every 24 hours to a state computer. The intent is to tie this information into the Department of Motor Vehicles for verification of the names.

This would stop such things as people from being registered in various locations and having a chance to vote twice.

The backup system being developed is "not ideal," Heller said.

He doesn't like the plan to send all the names of registered voters into the state every 24 hours. He favored a "top down" system where the information would be available immediately. "We would have everybody on the same voting system," he said.

"If everybody talked to each other, that would avoid problems on election and some people voting in multiple precincts," he said.

Heller said the new plan has been sent to the Justice Department for approval.