Voting nightmare ahead?

The Capital Times reports:

Cieslewicz calls voter registration system inefficient

The state's new voter registration system can't process absentee ballots and is five times slower than the city of Madison's current system, says Mayor Dave Cieslewicz...

Cieslewicz charged that numerous "uncorrected" problems remain with the State Voter Registration System, created by software developer Accenture, and due to debut in Madison and communities around the state in time for the fall elections.

"As currently configured, the SVRS is inefficient, often ineffective, and inaccurate," Cieslewicz wrote.

Cieslewicz said he was taking a number of steps to make sure that people's right to vote wouldn't be jeopardized because of uncorrected glitches with the new system.

He said the city would continue to maintain its own voter registration system as a backup and hire six additional temporary employees, at a cost of more than $50,000, to help process voter registration applications on the new system.

"Because we are concerned that SVRS will not allow us to generate absentee ballots in a timely manner, our current system will be used to assure that voters who want absentee ballots receive them," Cieslewicz said.

Which raises the obvious question: How's it working in Milwaukee? If it takes five times as long, as Madison's Mayor Dave reports, it could be a nightmare. We'll see what Mayor Tom has to say.