Statesman Journal, September 6
Lawmakers won’t fund the Secretary
of State’s plan for centralized voter registration.
BY STEVE LAW
Statesman Journal
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.
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