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Citizens protest State Elections Board

Ben Smidt

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Also by Ryan Masse:

by Ryan Masse

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

More than one hundred protesters gathered on the Capitol Square Tuesday to rally against the State Elections Board’s newly signed contract with consulting firm Accenture, LLP.

Protesters said the contract, to create a statewide list of registered voters, moves the state down the road to privatizing the most basic aspect of democracy: elections.

“What was the elections board thinking when they decided to give this job to a private company?” Phyllis Hasbrouck, of the group No Stolen Elections, asked. “You have a corporation like Accenture that has a financial interest in who wins the election.”

Hasbrouck and others led the sign-wielding protesters as they circled in front of the Risser Justice Center, home of the elections board. A group of protesters later journeyed up to the board’s third-floor office, some erupting in chants demanding the resignation of State Elections Board Executive Director Kevin Kennedy. Kennedy met with a small group of protesters later in the afternoon to respond to concerns about the contract.

The protesters said the agreement with the state is flawed on multiple fronts. Not only is the state allowing a corporation to tinker with democracy, they allege, but Wisconsin is allowing a questionable company to do it.

Accenture has a checkered past, they say: formerly known as Andersen Consulting, it changed its name to Accenture following the Enron scandal. The company’s corporate headquarters are located in Bermuda, a move designed to avoid paying taxes, protester Carol Weidel said.

The board said the subsidiary working with Wisconsin is located in Chicago, however, and the contract stipulates all work must be done within the United States.

Accenture recently encountered controversy in the state of Florida, which hired the firm to create a list to prevent felons from illegally voting. Inconsistencies in the list led the Sunshine State to scrap the database.

Critics of the Florida list say it purged an inordinate number of African-American voters, who overwhelmingly vote Democrat, while keeping Hispanic voters, who tend to lean Republican in Florida.

The State Elections Board said the problems in Florida were simply the result of incompatible lists between the state and company, and therefore there is no concern problems would arise in Wisconsin’s database.

Wisconsin must produce the statewide database of registered voters by January 2006 in order to qualify for federal funding under the 2002 Help America Vote Act. The State Elections Board says the only way this could be accomplished was through the Accenture contract.

That the state is only now trying to meet the requirement should raise a red flag, Weidel said.

“This did not spring up overnight,” she said. “The elections board failed to plan to put this voter list together with state workers.”

Protesters Tuesday also raised strong concerns with the cost of the contract, which runs in excess of $10 million. Weidel said the state could have compiled the list for a fraction of that cost.

Another database company, Wisconsin Voter Lists, based out of Watertown, Wis., agrees, saying they could have delivered the list to the state at a price of around $2 million.

Barry Ashenfelter, spokesman for the company, said Wisconsin is being “fleeced” by Accenture.

“There’s no reason why just calling up municipal clerks and obtaining voter lists should cost more than one or two million dollars,” Ashenfelter said.

He said Wisconsin Voter Lists, which sells lists of Wisconsin’s voters to various companies, did not submit a formal bid for the list but was told by the state they did not meet qualifications.

Protester and Madison resident Russell Wallace feels the contract is just a convenient way for state officials pass off responsibility if problems arise in the list.

“If the work is outsourced, who gets the blame if something goes wrong?” Wallace said. “It’s the perfect way to cover your [behind].”

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Anonymous (December 1, 2004 @ 10:33am):

"Accenture has a checkered past, they say: formerly known as Andersen Consulting, it changed its name to Accenture following the Enron scandal." - This fact is not true. Accenture was never affiliated with the Enron scandal. The name was changed to Accenture following its split from Anderson (the accounting company) prior to the Enron scandal. Accenture had attempted to keep the Anderson name however was legally forced to due to the split. Additionally, prior to the split the two companies were essentially separate entities.

Please check your facts.

Anonymous (December 1, 2004 @ 11:25am):

Did the author take the time to research this company? Did he attempt to interview or contact anyone involved in the sale of the work? Did he determine the other firms that submitted proposals (and lost) and criticize their work? This is not a news article, it is a one-sided editorial. It does not appear any attempt was made to tell both sides of the story or even do simple research.

This article is just an example of poor journalism. What a disgrace.

Anonymous (December 1, 2004 @ 1:49pm):

People in this city need to get a life.

Anonymous (December 1, 2004 @ 3:58pm):

The Accenture contract came from years of planning by the Elections Board. They have put forth a huge effort to comply with the federal mandate. This is a complex system that keeps control at the local level where it has always been. The voter list will be maintained by local municipal officals, not the company. The criticism is unwarrented and uninformed.

Robert Millman (December 3, 2004 @ 10:32am):

I have prepared a simple analysis of registration and vote swings in Florida from 2000 to 2004. In comparing the two elections It turns out that Kerry did better in counties where he lost registration than he did in counties where he gained registration. the data is from public records. Want a copy?
r.millman@att.net

Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 1:04pm):

DEIBOLD = REPUBLICAN

Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 6:14pm):

Accenture - why would any state give a foreign-based company responsibility for their voter roll data? This sort of outsourcing really is blatantly un-American. I want the names of the legislators and committee members!