Salem Statesman Journal - http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=29393

State’s voting reform stalled

Lawmakers won’t fund the Secretary of State’s plan for centralized voter registration.

BY STEVE LAW
Statesman Journal
September 6

Oregon’s bid to prevent election fraud in the wake of Florida’s problems is running into delays.

A legislative committee on Wednesday refused to consider Secretary of State Bill Bradbury’s request for $2 million to launch a centralized voter registration system. Leaders of the Joint Legislative Committee on Information Management and Technology pulled the proposal from their agenda Wednesday, and turned down Bradbury’s request to make a pitch for the money. There was no time to give the project a proper technical review, said Rep. Jim Hill, R-Hillsboro, committee co-chairman.

Generally, such committees must approve a project before the Legislative Emergency Board releases funding.

Bradbury still is hopeful he can make an appeal to an emergency board subcommittee today, said Paddy McGuire, the secretary of state’s chief of staff. But the emergency board co-chairman, Senate President Gene Derfler, R-Salem, said lawmakers are intent on delaying the voter registration project because of a looming state revenue shortfall.

“We want to postpone it until we get a better (economic) forecast,” Derfler said. “I don’t think it’s a prudent thing to do at this point.”

The centralized voter registration system, which ultimately will cost $7 million, would allow elections officials to prevent someone from voting multiple times in different Oregon counties. President Bush pointed out that vulnerability in the state’s elections system after he barely lost Oregon in last fall’s presidential race.

The 2001 Legislature approved startup funds to begin the project, but required Bradbury to appear before the emergency board to get the money. But board members are putting off spending state reserves, after last week’s economic forecast showed the state might be $212 million short of paying for items in the approved 2001-03 budget.

Delaying the launch of the voter registration project until next year means it won’t be ready in time for the 2004 presidential election, McGuire said.

“That may be a risk,” Derfler said. “If it delays it, it delays it.”

Steve Law can be reached at (503) 399-6615.