FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – One Valley Assemblyman is again calling for an audit, after 23,000 Californians were incorrectly registered to vote by the State’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
Mistakes included some voters being assigned the wrong political party preference.
Under California’s new motor voter law, residents can automatically register to vote through the DMV that took effect in April.
About 1.4 million people registered or updated their voter registration from April 23 through August 5, according to the DMV.
The department announced on Wednesday that it sent the secretary of state’s office incorrect information.
The errors mostly affected their vote-by-mail, language and political party selections, but did not allow any people living in the country illegally to register to vote.
The DMV’s Director Jean Shiomoto has apologized, and said those people who were affected are being asked to check their voter registration.
Republican Assemblyman Jim Patterson says he’s had numerous complaints from Central Valley residents who have contacted his office.
He believes this is just the tip of the iceberg.
“This is raising some very serious questions about the trustworthiness of the DMV information to our local registrars,” said Patterson. “They are telling me that this is more than just a few, that they are having to be very, very careful, and check and double-check on inputted registrations that are coming from the DMV and they are finding themselves having to go to individuals, sending them postcards, making phone calls to them, saying; ‘Are you sure you are registered correctly?'”
Assemblyman Patterson is calling for what he calls another “deep and serious” audit of the DMV in January of 2019.
Click to hear the report by KMJ’S Liz Kern:
