The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday said it has discovered it sent the Secretary of State’s Office 23,000 erroneous voter registrations. The agency said the errors occurred within the state’s Motor Voter program — which allows eligible applicants getting a driver license to be automatically registered to vote. The DMV said the errors stem from technicians toggling between multiple screens and registration information being improperly merged. According to the agency, 1,600 residents did not complete a voter registration affidavit and had their information sent to the secretary of state, which maintains the state’s list of registered voters. The DMV said none of the applicants were undocumented immigrants. “We are committed to getting this right and are working closely with the Secretary of State’s office to correct the errors that occurred,” DMV Director Jean Shiomoto said in a statement.
In some cases, people were registered in the wrong party. Some customers who wished to opt out of the program were added.
In a letter sent to the Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Wednesday, the department said the inaccurate customer information largely affected “voter preferences such as, vote-by-mail options, language and political party selections.”
The DMV said it learned of the issues on Aug. 5. After going through 1.4 million customer records, it narrowed the problem to 23,000 people and immediately stopped sending data to the secretary of state’s office.
Full Article: California DMV processed 23,000 voter registration errors | The Sacramento Bee.