Melendez to Suspend “New Motor Voter” Until Problems Resolved

SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, announced today that she will introduce a measure next month that will call on the Governor to suspend the new motor voter provisions enacted by AB 1461 of 2015 and change it to an “opt-in” voter registration instead of “opt-out.”

“It’s careless of the Secretary of State to sponsor a bill rolling out an automatic voter registration system he knew had numerous flaws and problems,” said Melendez. “Thousands of Californians have now had their voter registrations changed through no fault of their own and its time the Secretary of State take responsibility for this failure.”

Similar to SB 57 (Bates), which recently failed passage in the Senate Elections Committee, this measure will allow the voters the choice to register when they renew their drivers license by “opting in” to the voter registration option or choosing not to change their registration at all. This past August, an LA Times article highlighted that the Department of Motor Vehicles produced almost 84,000 duplicate voter records and over 170,000 records “indicating a person’s political party but no such ‘associated designation.’” California voters are now being informed of these technical glitches when notified by the Secretary of State that they are now registered as something different.

“Automatic voter registration systems are not ready for prime-time and these mistakes are weakening the integrity of our electoral system,” said Melendez. “If the voter registration form is confusing to fill out, fix it. If the online voter registration form is confusing to figure out, fix it. Voters should not have their party preference changed because the Secretary of State can’t figure out how to make registering to vote easily understood.”

Assemblywoman Melissa A. Melendez represents the 67^th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar and a portion of Hemet. It also includes the Riverside County unincorporated areas of Lake Mathews, Good Hope, Nuevo, and Winchester. Follow her on Twitter: @asmMelendez

Editors Note:

Here is a look at the Bill:

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1461, Gonzalez. Voter registration: California New Motor Voter Program.

Existing law, the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, requires a state to, among other things, establish procedures to register a person to vote by application made simultaneously with an application for a new or renewal of a motor vehicle driver’s license. The federal act requires the motor vehicle driver’s license application to serve as an application for voter registration with respect to an election for federal office, unless the applicant fails to sign the application, and requires the application to be considered as updating the applicant’s previous voter registration, if any. The federal act defines “motor vehicle driver’s license” to include any personal identification document issued by a state motor vehicle authority.

Under existing state law, a person may not be registered to vote except by affidavit of registration. Existing law requires a properly executed affidavit of registration to be deemed effective upon receipt of the affidavit by the county elections official if the affidavit is submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles on or before the 15th day before the election. Existing state law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Secretary of State to develop a process and the infrastructure to allow a person who is qualified to register to vote in the state to register to vote online.

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue driver’s licenses and state identification cards to applicants who meet specified criteria and provide the department with the required information. Existing law generally requires an applicant for an original driver’s license or state identification card to submit satisfactory proof to the department that the applicant’s presence in the United States is authorized under federal law.

This bill would require the Secretary of State and the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish the California New Motor Voter Program for the purpose of increasing opportunities for voter registration by any person who is qualified to be a voter. Under the program, after the Secretary of State certifies that certain enumerated conditions are satisfied, the Department of Motor Vehicles would be required to electronically provide to the Secretary of State the records of each person who is issued an original or renewal of a driver’s license or state identification card or who provides the department with a change of address, as specified. The person’s motor vehicle records would then constitute a completed affidavit of registration and the person would be registered to vote, unless the person affirmatively declined to be registered to vote during a transaction with the department, the department did not represent to the Secretary of State that the person attested that he or she meets all voter eligibility requirements, as specified, or the Secretary of State determines that the person is ineligible to vote. The bill would require the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to implement this program, as specified.

Under existing law, the willful, unauthorized disclosure of information from a Department of Motor Vehicles record to any person, or the use of any false representation to obtain information from a department record or any use of information obtained from any department record for a purpose other than the one stated in the request or the sale or other distribution of the information to a person or organization for purposes not disclosed in the request is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or both fine and imprisonment.

This bill would provide that disclosure of information contained in the records obtained from the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to the California New Motor Voter Program is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or both fine and imprisonment. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law, the Information Practices Act of 1977, authorizes every state agency to maintain in its records only personal information that is relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the agency, or is required or authorized by state or federal law. That act specifies the situations in which disclosure is permissible and also specifies the manner in which agencies must account for disclosures of personal information, including those due to security breaches, among other provisions.

This bill would require the Secretary of State to establish procedures to safeguard the confidentiality of information acquired from the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to the California New Motor Voter Program and would state that the provisions of the Information Practices Act of 1977 govern disclosures pursuant to the program.

Existing law makes it a crime for a person to willfully cause, procure, or allow himself or herself or any other person to be registered as a voter, knowing that he or she or that other person is not entitled to registration. Existing law also makes it a crime to fraudulently vote or attempt to vote.

This bill would provide that if a person who is ineligible to vote becomes registered to vote by operation of the California New Motor Voter Program in the absence of a violation by that person of the crime described above, that person’s registration shall be presumed to have been effected with official authorization and not the fault of that person. The bill would also provide that if a person who is ineligible to vote becomes registered to vote by operation of this program, and that person votes or attempts to vote in an election held after the effective date of the person’s registration, that person shall be presumed to have acted with official authorization and is not guilty of fraudulently voting or attempting to vote, unless that person willfully votes or attempts to vote knowing that he or she is not entitled to vote.

This bill would also make conforming changes.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2102 of the Elections Code, proposed by SB 589, that would become operative only if SB 589 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2016, and this bill is chaptered last.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

2 comments

George Mathews Jan 15, 2020 - 5:37 am

Refreshing to see a Republican legislator stepping up and acting r the common good. This should not be a partisan issue. Kudos to her

Robert C Jan 15, 2020 - 6:16 am

This does not go far enough. The whole “motor voter” system should be scrapped on two grounds: policy and practicality.

Policy: It’s bad policy based on the mistaken philosophy that those who fail to register on their own must be “helped” by Big Brother State Government. In fact, voter registration is easily accomplished for anyone who wants to register on their own.

Practicality: We have ample evidence that CA DMV is incompetent even at its core functions. “Piling on” with the voter registration mandate is just plain stupid.

Comments are closed.

Melendez to Suspend “New Motor Voter” Until Problems Resolved

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