Despite updates to the current Virginia Election and Registration Information System, several area registrars have voiced concerns about the system's ability to function adequately.
The Help America Vote Act was passed in 2002, requiring states to have an interactive voter database, Charlottesville General Registrar Sheri Iachetta said. Unlike other states, however, "Virginia has always had a central database," Iachetta said. "In other states, each locality had individual databases."
Iachetta said the VERIS system "manages our entire registration base," allowing election officials to add and transfer voters and to organize mailing, equipment and polling workers.
According to Albemarle County General Registrar Richard Washburne, this past election was the first major election in which VERIS was in place and working.
"The state first switched over in February of this year," he said. "We did use it for the June primary, but that was a comparatively small election."
While there were not any major voting difficulties in the Charlottesville area, Iachetta noted that voting was "slower than usual," citing the system's first simultaneous, statewide use as the source of the problem.
She added that the VERIS system is more prone to crashes than the previous system, and processes take longer to complete because more steps are required.
"We can't do anything in it today because the central computer in Richmond is experiencing difficulties," she said. "It experiences difficulty much more often than our previous system did."
Washburne noted that Albemarle County did not experience problems on Election Day, but he expressed concern about the time it takes for the system to process information.
"My major concern at this point is the speed at which VERIS can process the inputting of information, particularly applications for absentee ballots," he said, adding that congestion could occur during the 45-day period before November elections, when in-person absentee registration occurs.
Louisa County General Registrar Cristy Watkins and Fluvanna County General Registrar Joyce Pace both said there were no VERIS-related voter difficulties in their areas on Election Day.
Pace noted, however, that the same concerns such as speed, vulnerability to crashes and difficulty of inputting information are universal problems.
"We're all having the same difficulties," she said. "This is statewide. We all are dealing with the same issue."
When problems do arise, registrars inform the State Board of Elections.
"There have been a lot of bumps in the road," Pace said. "When most of us experience a problem, we have to notify the State Board, and they work with how to ratify the problem. [They make] a patch here and a patch there until we can get [VERIS] to where it needs to be."
Iachetta said she worries that the current problems could become a major logistical issue for the presidential election next year.
"It needs to have a lot of things worked out before federal elections next year," she said. "I don't think it'll be able to handle the magnitude of information that we're going to receive"
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