Outsourcing vendor Covansys Corp. has won a $14.8 million contract to build an electronic voter-registration system for the state of New Jersey, the company said Wednesday.

Covansys will create the system--intended to help the state comply with the federal Help America Vote Act--along with subcontractors PCC Technology Group and Aradyme Corp. Covansys says the system will be online by January.

The Help America Vote Act stipulates in part that all states must create and maintain an electronic, interactive voter-registration system. President Bush signed it into law in 2002 following election irregularities in Florida and other states. The law is intended to help states prevent voting snafus by replacing paper ballots and punch cards with electronic systems.

Covansys says the new system will allow New Jersey election officials to access, search, and scan lists of registered voters in real time. It will also let them more quickly identify duplicate registrations and instances of possible voter fraud. Covansys recently won similar contracts with Maine and Nevada.