InfoSENTRY Statewide Voter Registration
System
Requirements Analysis and Needs Assessment
InfoSENTRY worked with another
independent consulting firm in 1997-1998 to prepare a requirements analysis and
needs assessment for a statewide voter registration system in Illinois. The
three-month project involved survey research, focus groups throughout the
state, documentation collection and review, site visits in county elections
offices, and process walkthroughs in State agencies and eight election
jurisdictions.
The resulting report contained
detailed assessments of state and local needs for statewide networking
capabilities and specific requirements for a statewide voter registration
network. The research determined that several organizations, including a law
enforcement agency, community colleges, and an association of county officials
were interested in the possibility of sharing the cost for build-out of a
statewide data communications network in Illinois. The report contained a set
of tasks and strategies for first year work, including an immediate assessment
of Year 2000 exposure. It contained three alternative network architectures for
a statewide voter registration system.
The report focused in great detail
on the State’s need for a major data standardization and data conversion
project prior to implementation of any statewide voter registration system.
Without standardizing formats for key voter registration data elements, the
report concluded that a statewide voter registration system would deliver only
negligible benefits to Illinois.
Subsequent to the needs
assessment, the Illinois State Board of Elections contracted with InfoSENTRY to
serve as a technical advisor to its statewide voter registration system design
and implementation committee. As a follow-up to this effort, the State Board
contracted with InfoSENTRY to perform an independent verification and
validation (IV&V) role by examining the database and network plans of the
firm selected to implement the statewide voter registration database. The
IV&V report, which pointed to several potential problems in the planned
data flows among the stakeholders’ systems and the planned database design, suggested
alternative approaches to resolving the conflicts.
InfoSENTRY is an independent technology consulting firm. We have
no financial relationships, partnerships, or joint marketing agreements with
hardware, software, or networking companies.
