At least 600 Californians, including lifelong Republicans and Democrats, have had their voter registration unexpectedly changed, and several county elections officials are pinning much of the blame on the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
Among those affected: the daughter of the California Senate’s GOP leader….
Elections officials across the state are linking many of the reported complaints to the state’s new Motor Voter program, which launched ahead of the 2018 midterms to automatically register eligible voters when they visit the DMV. The 2015 law was designed to help boost participation, but a rushed launch prompted 105,000 registration errors to occur following its roll-out.
Janna Haynes, public information officer for Sacramento County Voter Registration & Elections, said the department has received “close to 200 calls from people saying they don’t think they were registered NPP” after the county recently sent out postcards to about 200,000 other people earlier this month.
Haynes noted two-thirds of the 200 complaints the department received came from people who have recently done business with the DMV.
While it’s unclear what happened to the people who didn’t visit the DMV, other errors may have occurred from voters wrongly filling out government documents or election workers inaccurately entering voter data.