Spokane County Implements Automated Marriage Licenses

Courthouse Journal
Washington State Association of Counties & Washington Association of County Officials
July 6, 2001, Number 9

At the most recent annual conference of the county auditors, Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton, shared the following information with the group. We thought it should be included in the Courthouse Journa'.s Good Things section. Vicky graciously submitted the following article:

In Spokane County, marriage forms are now printed by a computer program. The information about the couple is typed in once. The computer automatically produces the four standard documents, with all of the information printed in the appropriate field. This new in-house program:

• Saves staff time and reduces data entry errors;
• Improves the collection of information from the bride and groom;
• Ensures the legibility of the completed documents; and
• Dramatically reduces the number of marriage licenses returned that are missing information.

Although typing this information adds a few minutes during issuance, considerable staff time has been saved due to reduced errors. In the past, the couple and the clergy filled in preprinted forms manually. So many errors occurred that one employee spent nearly half of each day mailing back certificates for corrections, such as missing signatures, incomplete addresses.

Now the couple and clergy are responsible for only the signatures and the clergy's address. The clergy are especially thrilled that they no longer must scrutinize the contents of the marriage certificates.

Vicky also invited other county auditors to use this new software free of charge! If you are interested in using her program, please give her a call.