California DMV may have missed 23,000 voter registrations

Sophia Bollag, Associated Press

updated

20:53 CDT, Wednesday, September 5, 2018

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – The Motor Vehicle Department says agency technicians have missed about 23,000 California voter registrations under the new "Motor Voters" law, according to a departmental letter. Wednesday.

The DMV sent incorrect information to the state secretary, according to the letter from the director of DMV, Jean Shiomoto, and the director of the technology department, Amy Tong, sent the secretary of state Alex Padilla. The ministry says the mistakes mainly affected client votes, language and political parties.

The agency says that she will send letters to the voters concerned so that they can correct their information. The voters concerned are scattered throughout the state, officials said.

The error did not allow anyone residing in the country without permission to register to vote, said the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"I am extremely disappointed and deeply frustrated that the administrative error of DMV has resulted in the transmission of incorrect registration data to election officials," Padilla said in a statement. "The DMV assured us that they had taken the necessary steps to prevent this from happening again."

The California law on motor vehicle voters allowing residents to automatically register to vote took effect in April. People have registered or updated their voter registration about 1.4 million times until August 5, the department said.

The news comes as the DMV suffers long waits in some of its offices, which has sparked a public outcry and sparked hearings last month in the state legislature.

Between July and August, waiting times have improved by an average of 30 minutes in the state, the agency reported to lawmakers Wednesday.

DMV officials said they hired more staff and brought in retired workers to speed up transactions. They have accused new technologies, the new law on motor vehicle voters and the federal security standards known as the Real ID for delays.

Shiomoto called the waiting times unacceptable during hearings. She swore to solve the problem.

The agency claims that walk-in clients waited an average of 100 minutes during the week ending August 25th.

Wait times vary considerably, ranging from a minimum of three minutes for clients with appointments in Napa or Fall River Mills to a maximum of 158 minutes for appointments at West Covina.

MP Catharine Baker, a Republican from the San Francisco Bay Area, says that reports from her constituents and staff who visited DMV's offices in her district do not match the rosier picture of the district. 39; agency.

"I have no confidence in the numbers we receive from the DMV," she said. "It became clear not one but two audiences that they had no reliable way to gauge the extent of their own wait time problem."

Real ID standards were adopted following the September 11th terrorist attacks and require new identity cards to carry special marks.

After October 1, 2020, airport security checkpoints will not accept non-compliant cards. Californians must apply for new cards in person at DMV's offices.

Legislators have granted DMVs millions of dollars in additional funding to meet increased demand, with Californians updating their licenses to comply with security requirements.

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PA author Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this report.