Secretary of state knew of voter list flaws in May
By Associated Press
Published August 2, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Secretary of State Glenda Hood held out two months before scrapping a database of felons barred from voting, despite knowing about problems with the list and the vendor responsible for compiling it.
A May 2 internal memo requested by Hood details missed deadlines, failed software programs, personnel problems and a long list of mistakes, the Miami Herald reported Sunday.
The memo, obtained through a public-records request, underscored problems the state faced as it rushed out a list of 48,000 people who could be kept off voter rolls. The memo also documented problems over a two-year period with a $2.7-million contract with Accenture, an international technology consulting firm.
Agency spokeswoman Alia Faraj had no direct response Sunday to the lag time between the critical memo and the decision to yank the list on July 10. Hood called for an audit and an inspector general's review at the same time.
Jim McAvoy, spokesman for Accenture, told the newspaper that the company was unaware of the memo. However, he acknowledged some "technical and staffing issues, which resulted in a delay of approximately five months," but said the state asked for many changes that contributed to the delays.
Among the problems Hood's office had with Accenture:
-- Three project managers were assigned by Accenture in the final year.
-- One database administrator sent in February "had no prior experience with this application."
-- As late as April, state overseers found a series of yet "more errors" by Accenture.
-- Deadlines were missed starting June 30, 2003. In one instance, a technical representative left the company without transferring her work to anyone, the memo said.
"We all wanted to know why it couldn't get done faster," said former state elections boss Ed Kast, who retired in June.
In a separate report last week, Gov. Jeb Bush's technology office was criticized in a scathing audit for the way it awards contracts to companies, including Accenture.
