California DMV Says 1,500 Registered To Vote In Error

SACRAMENTO (CBS13/AP) — The California Department of Motor Vehicles says about 1,500 people may have been registered to vote in error.

The DMV stressed that none of the impacted customers are undocumented immigrants who got their license under Assembly Bill 60.

RELATED: California DMV May Have Botched 23,000 Voter Registrations

The DMV said about 1,500 people may have been incorrectly registered between April 23 and Sept. 25 due to a "processing error." That includes legal residents who are not citizens, although the DMV says none of the people mistakenly registered are people living in the country illegally.

Incorrect registrations will be canceled by the secretary of state, DMV spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez said.

She and California Department of Technology Director Amy Tong notified the secretary of state about the problem in a Monday letter. It's the latest issue the department has reported with its new "motor voter" registration system. Last month, the department announced it may have botched about 23,000 voter registrations due to a separate error.

RELATED: California To Audit DMV Amid Hourslong Wait Times, Outages

"I remain deeply frustrated and disappointed that persistent errors by the DMV and CDT have undermined public confidence," Secretary of State Alex Padilla wrote in a letter calling for an audit.

The DMV discovered the errors after the Los Angeles Times inquired about a Canadian who was incorrectly registered, the paper reported. The green card holder contacted the Times after he was mistakenly registered when he tried to replace his driver's license at the DMV, the paper reported .

The department is working quickly to fix the problem, said DMV Director Jean Shiomoto.

California's motor voter law letting residents automatically register to vote took effect in April. Since then, people have newly registered or updated their voter registration more than a million times. The new law is aimed at making it easier for people to register and boosting voter turnout.

Early voting for the Nov. 6 election began Monday.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.

READ THE LETTER FROM THE CALIFORNIA DMV

Dear Secretary of State Padilla:

Last week, the Department of Motor Vehicles and California Department of Technology discovered an administrative processing error impacting California Motor Voter data collected from DMV field offices between April 23 and September 25, 2018 and sent to the Secretary of State. An extensive internal audit by our departments found that approximately 1,500 customers may have been registered to vote in error. This error has been corrected and is separate from the processing error we notified you about in writing on September 5.

This error occurred when DMV technicians processed customer requests at field offices to change voter eligibility responses on driver license applications. Due to the order in which the change was processed, the customer's initial responses were retained instead of the correct and revised responses. These customers may not have completed an affidavit of registration to vote, and their records were sent erroneously to the Secretary of State's office. None of the impacted customers are undocumented immigrants who received a driver license under AB 60. These DMV processing errors occurred through no fault of the customer, and we will coordinate in notification to the affected customers.

On September 26, DMV implemented a scheduled IT upgrade replacing its driver license application system. This new upgrade has prevented the reoccurrence of this error. The system enhancement added safeguards to ensure only records for customers affirming eligibility are forwarded to your office.

DMV and CDT remain committed to working collaboratively with your office to implement the California New Motor Voter Program. If your office or county registrars have questions or identify issues with any particular Motor Voter records, please contact Licensing Operations Division Deputy Director Wesley Goo, and Program Manager Deanna Wida. We will work expeditiously to research and resolve any potential issues.