SPRINGFIELD - Even though they'll miss a Jan. 1 deadline to have voter fraud-busting measures in place, Illinois' top election official says current systems safeguard against abuse and authorities are making progress in complying with the federal Help America Vote Act.

The law, passed three years ago after the 2000 presidential-election snafu in Florida, requires states to have comprehensive voter-registration databases working by Sunday to ease authorities' search for duplicate names, removal of outdated registrations and other anti-deception measures.

Illinois is in a precarious position when it comes to complying with election laws, given its history. The adage, "Vote early and often" originated in Chicago, where decades of machine politics managed to get dead people to the polls and spawned the legend of thousands of votes for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election resting at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

State Board of Elections Executive Director Dan White said Friday that a statewide database of voters was available to local election officials in 2004 so that they could compare their voter rolls to the state list. But the board still must create a two-way system, allowing counties and other local election bodies to send updated records to the state.

"It's not done as soon as we would have liked, or anyone else, but as long as we continue to make progress as well as we can, I think we'll be fine," White said.

The board is preparing to award a contract to build the database. Still, White doesn't expect that system, for which the Legislature authorized spending $8.65 million, to be ready until 2008.

The Justice Department won't say whether states out of compliance will face civil sanctions provided for in the law.

"We're currently evaluating the status of each individual state as part of our enforcement responsibilities, and we'll determine what steps should be taken after the evaluation," Justice spokesman Eric Holland said.

The federal government has sent $98 million to Illinois, including the database money. The rest of it is available to local election bodies to help them comply with another part of the act - updated voting machines. Requirements include that they are handicapped-accessible, let voters verify for whom they cast their tally, alert them to necessary corrections if they voted more than once in the same race, and produce a permanent paper record for a manual audit during recounts.

A National Association of Secretaries of State survey showed that of 43 states and territories responding, 19 would not be in compliance by the first of the year. But 17 of those would be ready before their first federal election, spokesman George Munro said.

Having a two-way database is important to fight voter abuse, officials believe. When voters move to new counties, it's technically their responsibility to cancel their old registration as well as sign up in their new homes.

"With this new system, they'll be able to register in the new county, and that should automatically make it so their old registration is canceled," Munro said.