FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2004

Contact: Timothy A. Hurst
(208)334-2852

Secretary of State Ben Ysursa today announced that Covansys Corporation and PCC Technology Group have been selected to provide the State of Idaho and the Counties with a centralized statewide voter registration system required under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).

Covansys Corporation, a global consulting and technology company, will be responsible for the implementation of a statewide system similar to those currently being used in the states of Connecticut and West Virginia. The system will still require voters to register with the county clerk who will then enter the data into the database maintained by the Secretary of State. The total cost of the system is $3.4 million and will take about eighteen months to implement. Funding for this system is provided by federal funds already distributed to the Secretary of State's office.

An evaluation team made up of representatives from the Office of the Secretary of State, county clerks and local election officials reviewed the proposals and made the selection based upon technical specifications, vendor specifications, product demonstrations and price. Proposals were submitted by Covansys Corporation, Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems and Software, NTS Data Servics and Sequoia Voting Systems.

"This is an important step in implementing the provision of HAVA," Ysursa stated. "I greatly appreciate the diligence of the evaluation team and the time and effort of all the vendors. I look forward to working with Covansys in the years ahead to improve Idaho’s registration system."