Voter System Firm Seeks New Contract: Secretary of state says there's no one else to provide maintenance
(Albuquerque Journal (NM) (KRT)
Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
Feb. 27--SANTA FE -- The Nebraska firm that built New Mexico's voter registration system is seeking a no-bid contract to provide maintenance.
Nebraska-based ES&S is seeking a renewal after its original maintenance contract expired Jan. 6, a state General Services Department spokesman said this week.
"The secretary of state is trying to sole source this and they have to justify it -- that there's no one else who can operate it," said Alex Cuellar of GSD.
James Flores, spokesman for Secretary of State Mary Herrera, said his agency has "no choice" but to go with a no-bid contract. "It's their system," Flores said of ES&S. "If you buy a Volvo and something breaks down, you have to go to Volvo."
ES&S' attempt to renew the voter registration contract comes amid complaints that the state provided outdated or incomplete voter registration lists to the state Democratic Party and that they might have contributed to the party's problem-riddled presidential caucus on Feb. 5.
However, the Secretary of State's Office and ES&S say the firm played no role in the caucus problems because it does not remove or add voters' names from the lists. Responsibility for updating the lists falls to county clerks around the state.
"ES&S' role related to the New Mexico voter registration database is limited to providing centralized voter registration software, working with the state to implement the centralized system, and providing technical support in using the system," ES&S spokeswoman Jill Friedman-Wilson said Tuesday.
While some party officials have speculated the problems started with the state, other reports have suggested the problems began when the party -- which ran the caucus -- consolidated voting precincts across New Mexico.
Josh Geise, the state Democratic Party's interim executive director, declined to say where he thought the blame might lie.
Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron hired ES&S in 2000 to construct and maintain the state's centralized voter registration system. The recently expired agreement ran through Jan. 6, 2004, with the state able to grant four oneyear extensions, which it did.
Friedman-Wilson acknowledged that ES&S was seeking a renewal of the contract but would not discuss the terms Tuesday.
The state paid $195,000 for the software under the agreement. ES&S also charged counties varying fees for technical and software support.
The same firm outfitted New Mexico with its paper ballot voting machines and tabulators in 2006 and one of its subsidiaries maintains the secretary of state's campaign finance reporting Web site.
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