Oregon to Build Voter Registration System

SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury announced the creation Oregon Centralized Voter Registration ("OCVR") system by 2006. OCVR will consolidate the voter registration lists currently stored separately by the 36 counties into one single centralized database.

Required and funded by the federal Help America Vote Act, OCVR will be a single, centralized, interactive and official database system with all the names and addresses of Oregon's registered voters. OCVR will not change how citizens vote or register to vote, but it will provide a secure and reliable centralized system for keeping track of registered voters.

Oregon began planning and designing an OCVR system in 1995, well before the Help America Vote Act required and provided funds for the project. Because much of the preliminary work was already done, Oregon was the first state to release a Request For Proposals for a centralized voter registration system, and is the first state to select a vendor. Several other states have adopted parts of Oregon's RFP to help with their vendor selection.

Oregon selected Saber Consulting, Helion Software and Chaves Consulting to build the system. The vendor selection process included meetings with every county's elections officials to gather information on requirements and keep them apprised of progress. The selection committee also included four county clerks and two county information technology specialists. Counties will continue to be involved throughout the development and implementation of the project.