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Two Democratic candidates say the state needs better IT services

Dave Thompson
/
Prairie Public

Two Democratic NPL statewide candidates say the state of North Dakota needs to up its game when it comes to information technology.

They say, for example, businesses that have to file registration information with the Secretary of State’s office, or tax information with the state Tax Department are often frustrated with the difficulty in doing that, given the current IT platforms.

Tax Commissioner candidate Kylie Overson told Bismarck reporters she’s been talking with Secretary of State candidate Joshua Boschee about creating a “Hub.”

"It would be a centralized, one-stop shop for businesses, non-profits and employers and other orgnizations, to increase efficiencies in how they interact with the government," Overson said. "It would also save money, reducing costs for taxpayers."

Overson said instead of having separate log-in portals for each agency, there would be one portal.

Boschee said the Hub would also be more useful to the public at large. He said current state websites need updating.

"The current websites have been clearly built for people on the back end, for the employees who work with it nearly every day," Boschee said. "How do we make a system that works on the front end?"

The two candidates say this would work well with what the Information Technology Department is trying to do with its consolidation efforts.

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