Randall Marquis has lived in California for 31 years, but he knew it was a mistake when he received a notice last month that said he was newly registered to vote. He may have a state driver’s license, but he’s a citizen of Canada.
“When I saw that card, I just threw it out,” Marquis said. “I know I’m not going to vote. I’m not allowed to vote, it’s stupid that I should be registered to vote.”
The Newport Beach resident, who has a green card and is married to a U.S. citizen, was one of some 1,500 people who the California Department of Motor Vehicles said on Monday were wrongly registered to vote between late April and late September. These errors, which included other non-citizens, are in addition to the roughly 23,000 registration mistakes disclosed by the DMV last month….
Shimoto and Amy Tong, the director of the state’s technology department, notified Secretary of State Alex Padilla of the errors on Monday.
The revelation prompted Padilla — who held a conference call with elections officials across California to discuss the new issues — to ask for an independent audit of the implementation of the motor voter system.
Padilla said in a letter to Shiomoto and Tong that he is “deeply frustrated and disappointed” after the repeated errors. “Immediate and transparent action is imperative,” Padilla wrote.