County nears beta on ethics database; voter registration software project moves to vendor build

At the Sept. 5 IT and Central Services meeting staff reported progress on two multi-month projects: an ethics database for the county clerk and a new voter registration software implementation.

An IT staff member said the ethics database for the county clerk is "almost complete" and that a beta version should be available for testing by January (transcript phrasing: "beta version of this for testing by the September for January and then to start testing that"). The same staff member said the voter registration software project has advanced: servers are built and the county has turned data over to vendor GBS, which is now constructing the system on its end.

The speaker noted approximately 200 new computers were purchased during the fiscal year and about 22 remain to be deployed. Office renovations are complete and staff expect to clear remaining boxes and prepare space for the treasurer by Dec. 1.

Why it matters: the ethics database and voter registration system affect public records management and election administration; both projects are in active implementation phases and will require future testing and coordination between county staff and vendors.

Next steps: staff expects beta testing of the ethics database in the coming months and vendor-side build work on the voter registration software to continue; deployment of remaining computers and office setup are scheduled before Dec. 1.