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AP15:049

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 20, 2015

CONTACT:

Sam Mahood (916) 653-6575

Neal Kelley (714) 567-5139

VoteCal Project to Create Statewide Voter Registration Database in California

 

SACRAMENTO – VoteCal, a state technology project that will create a single statewide voter registration database, has successfully launched the pilot phase on schedule, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced today. VoteCal will replace the existing 58 county voter registration databases throughout the state.  Sacramento County and Orange County are the first to deploy VoteCal.  Successful deployment of VoteCal is an essential step in modernizing elections in California.

Secretary Padilla joined Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley, as pilot implementation of VoteCal went live today in Orange County. 

VoteCal’s many functions will improve service to the voters of California by: 

  • Providing a publicly available website which will allow voters to register online, check the status of their ballot, and find their polling place.
  • Connecting the Secretary of State’s database to all 58 county elections offices to improve the voter registration process.
  • Giving voters the ability to see if their vote-by-mail or provisional ballot was counted by their county elections official and, if it was not, why not.
  • Providing a single, official statewide database of voter registration information.

The remaining counties have been grouped into a series of “waves” to begin implementing VoteCal.  Monthly wave deployments will occur from October 2015 to March 2016. After VoteCal is deployed in all counties and the Secretary of State has validated that VoteCal is working properly, VoteCal will be declared the official system of record for voter registration in California. This is expected to occur in June 2016. 

"I am proud to report that we have launched VoteCal in our first two pilot counties on schedule,” Secretary Padilla said. “I thank our staff and the elections officials in our pilot counties for their tireless efforts to keep this project on track." 

“VoteCal will help counties more efficiently and accurately maintain voter rolls. Additionally, voters will be able to register to vote, find a polling site, and check the status of their vote-by-mail or provisional ballot on-line. VoteCal is a big step forward in modernizing election administration in California, and I am excited that Orange County is one of the first counties to implement the new system,” Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said. 

VoteCal News and Background on the Secretary of State’s website 

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