Double Ballot Trouble: Voter Receives Two Ballots After Renewing Driver's License

EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — Ballots were mailed out weeks ahead of Election Day for early voting, but one voter found a surprise in her mailbox — a second ballot.

Darrelyn Patton received the two ballots in the mail within a couple weeks of renewing her driver's license at the DMV. But she's been registered to vote in El Dorado County for 40 years.

"I thought this is really wrong. I'm registered twice now. Why didn't El Dorado County catch that?" Patton said.

The County Registrar's Office says it takes its cues from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Eligible voters are automatically registered when they apply for, or renew, a driver's license or identification card with the DMV unless they choose to "opt out."

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"So she got two ballots, nobody's denying that. However, the first ballot we receive is the ballot that counts," said County Recorder Bill Schultz.

Schultz said the registrar's office is looking into voter registration at the DMV.  Earlier this year, the DMV acknowledged it had botched 23,000 voter registrations. In some cases, voters who didn't complete a registration form were registered anyway. The Secretary of State promised to work with the DMV to fix the problem.

For now, Patton hopes she's the only one who received two ballots because of the glitch. But she has her doubts.

"I believe in one vote for one person and now I see where very possibly that's not true," she said.

As for the DMV's registration system, the Secretary of State's Office sent us the following statement:

"On Thursday, October 11, Secretary of State Padilla called on the DMV to cease transmission of voter registration data until they could implement an additional layer of review and verification of the accuracy of the data. DMV agreed to take these steps, and the review process is being overseen by the Department of Finance. While voter registration activity has continued at the DMV, the data is not sent to our office until this additional review and verification process is completed. As DMV completes each day's review, data is sent to our office on a rolling basis. The official date of each registration will reflect the date of the original DMV transaction."

The county was not able to say how many more voters may have received two ballots because of the glitch.