Government Technology - January 2009 - (Page 46)

e-voting “I would certainly say it’s going to be an ongoing effort because there are always legislatively mandated changes to voting laws, so I think there will be other work to be done.” Ron O’Neil, senior architect, Microsoft JAN_09 really hard to create a single, central solution that satisfies everybody.” It also might have been more expensive and laborious if every Washington county had been forced to fit one massive solution. “I think the key point is that the different counties did not have to replace their existing databases but instead they were linked through a SQL database using Web services, XML and BizTalk,” said Gail Thomas, general manager of Microsoft’s state and local group. “So it wasn’t this big, monolithic, out-of-the-box solution. It allowed people to leverage their existing technology investments, and our technology’s really helped provide the glue.” More Work to Do The VRDB, successful as it is, was only part of Washington’s voting-system upgrade. The second phase — known as the Washington Election Information Project — is currently under way. After the completion of the VRDB in early 2006, the state implemented online voting registration and MyVote, a Web-accessible program where citizens can update addresses, access information or perform functions like checking voting status and viewing polling place information. “Because we have the voter registration [database] completed, we can do additional things, such as allow more information to be available to the general public,” Quach said. Some of phase two’s implementations benefit smaller Washington counties, such as those that didn’t have a Web presence to house their election-information pages, he said. Washington used Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Content Management Server to connect their sites to the state system. The work will likely continue. “I would certainly say it’s going to be an ongoing effort because there are always legislatively mandated changes to voting laws, so I think there will be other work to be done,” O’Neil said. 46 Put Your Sales in High Gear How fast are you moving in the state and local government IT market? Are you accelerating your sales cycle by working with channel partners already making state and local tracks? Do you have access to the information you need? The Center for Digital Government can help you get up to speed with custom state and local government market strategy and sales consulting. WITH THE CENTER FOR DIGITAL GOVERNMENT “The Center for Digital Government has been a tremendous ally and resource providing us a vast array of research services and networking opportunities.” RICK WEBB, CTO, ACCENTURE Tactical Sales and Market Support Channel Partner Programs Digital Government Navigator GET OUT AND TWIST THE THROTTLE OF THE STATE AND LOCAL IT MARKET! CONTACT THE CENTER FOR DIGITAL GOVERNMENT TODAY! CALL 800.598.1379 OR VISIT WWW.CENTERDIGITALGOV.COM/PRODUCTS http://www.govtech.com http://WWW.CENTERDIGITALGOV.COM/PRODUCTS http://WWW.CENTERDIGITALGOV.COM/PRODUCTS

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - January 2009

Government Technology - January 2009 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for... Stemming the Retirement Tide Getting the Picture Fact of Matter Money Trail Rays the Roof Trick or Tweet? The Modern Way to Vote Products signal:noise

Government Technology - January 2009

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