Sorry Indiana Democrats, SVRS Works

Forget that yesterday's first day of testing for Indiana's new Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) was just that--a test designed to fine tune the program. Forget that the only problem which surfaced was related to the new hardware just installed the night before to run the software. Forget that there are several more days of testing to work out any other potential problems. And forget that elections in Indiana can be conducted with or without SVRS just as they have for every election in the history of the state. The only point Democrats want you to believe is that SVRS is a major bust and a failure, and it's all Secretary of State Todd Rokita's and the Republicans' fault.

Reacting to the glitch in the new hardware and Democratic cries of doom and gloom, Rokita told WTHR that it was "a tempest in a teapot." He's right. Once the problem with the new hardware was detected, the state's computer consultant on the project, Quest Information Systems had the system up and running within two hours. And it ran smoothly. As Rokita observed, "No Hoosier, if this was election day, would have expected to loose their vote. We have backups in laws and technology." Even with the delay, election workers were able to check more than twice the number of voter registrations during the testing as had originally been played. More days of testing are being conducted next week.

Democrats, who have been quick to criticize Gov. Daniels for using out-of-state vendors for state work, could care less that this major contract is being undertaken by an up-and-coming Indianapolis-based IT company. The bottom line as far as they are concerned is that SVRS must fail. It must fail so Rokita looks bad and they have an issue that might defeat him, because that's the only way they may be able to win back the Secretary of State's office. It must fail because the elimination of duplicative voter registrations--about a quarter of a million so far--means less voter fraud, which might mean fewer votes for Democratic candidates.

Marion Co. Democratic election board member, Joel Miller, has served as the Democrats' designated hit man for the effort. He called the testing "a mess, a terrible mess." Even though Marion Co. election officials readily admit they can conduct an election without SVRS just like they have in every election before now, Miller couldn't help but fan the flames. Miller told WTHR, "One of the reasons for the mock election was to give those of us using the system confidence that it would work election day. If that was the goal it failed miserably."

Sorry to inform Indiana Democrats, but SVRS is here and it's staying. It works, and it's going to be much more difficult for election day workers of either party to engage in election day chicanery. That's good news for our electoral process. And that' s good news for Indiana.