A Unified and Computerized Voter Registration System January 1995 The League of Woman Voters of Rhode Island supports the state acquisition (or lease) and maintenance of a unified and computerized voter registration system for the 39 local Boards of Canvassers, state agencies, and the Central Voter Registry. Voter registrations should be stored in a central database. Duplicate data entry should be abolished. The new registration system should take highest priority because Rhode Island must meet the requirements of the national and Rhode Island Voting Rights laws. To ensure the integrity of the registration process, criteria for the selection and maintenance of the new registration system and for the procedures on the use of the registration system must include:
Security of registration, including protection against fraud and other data loss. The following should be included:
- Audit trails.
- Maintenance of in-house expertise
- To provide professional systems management of the whole voter registration system.
- To assess independently any hardware, software, and support supplied by vendors.
Timely updating, Interactive updating or daily batch processing should be the ideal.
Privacy of all registration information except that legally required to be public.
Accurate and efficient maintenance of registration records.
Operating ease for both software and hardware.
Collection and maintenance of all information required by law.
Accurate and easy-to-use reports for:
- Polling place voter lists.
- Jury selection.
- Other
A coordinate computerized system of street indexes:
- To enable printing of accurate registration confirmation cards.
- To aid legislators in redrawing district lines.
- To aid Boards of Canvassers in selecting polling places.
- To provide a report by street that shows the districts and polling place of any address.
Cost analysis, including hardware, software, personnel, maintenance, phone lines, etc.
