Madison Capital Times, March 10, 2006

By Judith Davidoff

Wisconsin is the last state standing.

On Thursday, Wyoming became the third of four states to pull out of its contract with Accenture LLC for the development of a statewide voter registraion system using the firm's new Web-based software.

Kansas and Colorado severed their ties with the technology and consulting giant last year due to problems with the project.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, a critic of Wisconsin's $13.9 million contract with Accenture, said he'd like the exucutive director of the state Elections Board to justify why the Badger State should continue to work with Accenture desprite problems with the project and missed deadlines.

"I think it's time for Kevin Kennedy to explain why everybody else who's contracted with Accenture is wrong and why, given the wide array of problems we've had with Accenture, we're the ones making the right decision by sticking with them," Pocan said Thursday after learning of Wyoming's decision.

Elections Board spokespman Kyle Richmond said Kennedy was traveling and could not be reached for comment. But Barbara Hansen, project director for the statewide voter registration project, said Wisconsin continues to move forward with its voter registration project despite the setbacks in Wyoming.

"We've never believed our success or failure will be tied to what has happened in other states," she said in an interview

Hansen said 21 Wisconsin counties with 560 municipalities have already gone "live" with the new system and others are getting ready to use it in the upcoming April elections.

Despite such progress, Hansen said she is preparing a letter to send to Accenture that seeks additional assurance the company is committed to completing the terms of its contract, which runs through June 2010.

There is some concern, she said, that Accenture might find it unprofitable to continue now that it won't be drawing revenue from the project from other states.

"I think it's just good business sense to ask for that," Hansen said.

Accenture spokesman Peter Soh said his company has no intention of walking away.

"We are committed to honoring our contract with Wisconsin," Soh said.

Federal mandate: Aimed at eliminating voter fraud, the 2002 Help America Vote Act required all states to develop a statewide voter registration system by Jan. 1, 2006. Many states, including Wyoming and Wisconsin, have failed to meet that deadline.

"Our relationship is going to be unwound," Wyoming Secretary of State Joe Meyer said in a phone interview Thursday. "Neither the state of Wyoming nor Accenture will be proceeding further under the contract."

Meyer said the system took a while to develop and he did not feel comfortable that it could be safely used in the 2006 elections.

"I think we essentially ran out of time," he said.

Soh said Wyoming and Accenture "came to the mutual agreement that the state would cancel for convenience its contract with Accenture."

When asked to comment on the cancellation of three of its four voter registration contracts, Soh would note only that Accenture has had a "very successful deployment" in Pennsylvania of an earlier version of its voter software.

Meyer said Wyoming would seek the return of most of the $3.9 million it paid so far to Accenture. The state's $8.8 million contract would have run through February 2009, he said.