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Elections Officials Attend Conference in Spokane

Washington State election directors are attending a conference in Spokane this week. Among the topics, possible replacement of current computer systems that track voter registration in the state’s 39 counties.

 
Back in 2004, the state had 39 separate data bases for voter registration, which became a major headache when a recount was needed due to the close Gregoire-Rossi Gubernatorial race. In 2006, the Secretary for states office helped develop a new computer database, but now there are still 3 different vendors that provide different operating systems for different county’s data bases.
 
Now, Secretary of State Kim Wyman says discussions are focusing on whether that should be updated. She says:

“The biggest challenge is with essentially 3 different operating systems. Every time we want to make a change it takes a lot of coordination. So we are looking it see if we should be on single system so we are looking at the possibilities.”

 
Wyman says one issue is that federal money that helped update the system back in 2006 is no longer available. She says the state legislature might have to find funding if it’s decided a new system is worth the investment.

Steve was part of the Spokane Public Radio family for many years before he came on air in 1999. His wife, Laurie, produced Radio Ethiopia in the late 1980s through the '90s, and Steve used to “lurk in the shadowy world” of Weekend SPR. Steve has done various on air shifts at the station, including nearly 15 years as the local Morning Edition host. Currently, he is the voice of local weather and news during All Things Considerd, writing, editing, producing and/or delivering newscasts and features for both KPBX and KSFC. Aside from SPR, Steve ,who lives in the country, enjoys gardening, chickens, playing and listening to music, astronomy, photography, sports cars and camping.