DMV finds voter-registration errors

Internal audit shows about 1,500 customers, including non-citizens, were signed up at state agency

An internal audit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles released Monday shows about 1,500 customers may have been improperly registered to vote.

“Approximately 1,500 customers may have been registered to vote in error,” the DMV wrote in a letter Monday to the Secretary of State’s Office. “This error has been corrected and is separate from the processing error we notified you about in writing on September 5.” Non-citizens are among the affected customers, according to Jessica Gonzalez, a DMV spokeswoman.

In early September, the DMV revealed it sent 23,000 erroneous voter registrations. These additional 1,500 errors occurred when DMV technicians processed customer requests at field offices to change voter eligibility responses on driver license applications.

The DMV said none of the processing errors occurred through the fault of the customer. None of the affected customers are undocumented immigrants.

“We have worked quickly with the Department of Technology to correct these errors and have also updated the programming and added additional safeguards to improve this process,” DMV Director Jean Shiomoto said.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla responded with a harsh letter to the state’s DMV and Department of Technology.

“I remain deeply frustrated and disappointed that persistent errors by the DMV and CDT have undermined public confidence in your basic responsibility to collect and transmit accurate voter registration information, as has been required by federal law for 25 years.”

Assemblyman Jim Patterson, RFresno, was even more critical, calling the situation “the unraveling of a cover-up.”

“Nothing surprises me anymore coming out of the DMV,” Patterson said. “This is probably the tip of the iceberg. I think we can expect more of these kind of registration problems.”