CA DMV Acknowledges Noncitizens Registered To Vote

image
Published: 10 Oct, 2018
1 min read

San Diego, CALIF.- The newly implemented Motor Voter program is becoming a liability for Secretary of State Alex Padilla.

IVN.us was the first media outlet to report on the Motor Voter registration concerns. In September the California Department of Motor Vehicles admitted to incorrectly submitting 23,000 voter registrations to the Secretary of State's office due to technicians' error.

Now, another layer of concern is being revealed, as at least one non-citizen and perhaps many more were improperly registered to vote by the DMV.

The discovery has prompted the secretary of state to demand a new investigation.

Freeze Motor Voter Program?

A freeze to the state’s Motor Voter program is “certainly on the table,” Padilla said Tuesday, “these mistakes from the DMV are absolutely unacceptable.”

The DMV said about 1,500 people may have been incorrectly registered between April 23 and Sept. 25 because of a “processing error.”  That includes legal residents who are not citizens.

California launched the Motor Voter program on April 23, which automatically registers and pre-registers eligible voters when they go into a DMV office to complete a driver’s license, state ID or address change transaction.

Concerned Canadian Prompted Discovery

The DMV discovered the errors after a Canadian resident went to the LA Times over concerns he was incorrectly registered.

The green card holder contacted the Times after he was mistakenly registered when he tried to replace his driver’s license at the DMV.

IVP Donate

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.

Early voting for the Nov. 6 election began Monday.

You Might Also Like

Why Mathematicians Love Ranked Choice Voting
Why Mathematicians Love Ranked Choice Voting
The Institute for Mathematics and Democracy (IMD) has released what may be the most comprehensive empirical study of ranked choice voting ever conducted. The 66-page report analyzes nearly 4,000 real-world ranked ballot elections, including some 2,000 political elections, and more than 60 million simulated ones to test how different voting methods perform....
11 Dec, 2025
-
4 min read
California flag
Quirk Silva’s Exit Sparks a High-Profile Orange County Clash, Where Independent Voters Control the Math
California’s 67th Assembly District stretches across parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties, connecting some of the region’s most dynamic and diverse suburban communities. It includes the entire cities of Cerritos, La Palma, Hawaiian Gardens, Artesia, Buena Park, and Cypress, as well as portions of Fullerton and Anaheim....
18 Dec, 2025
-
6 min read
Donald Trump
Trump Signs Order to Reclassify Cannabis to Schedule III
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration will officially move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, a decision that marks the most significant change to U.S. drug policy since the early 1970s....
18 Dec, 2025
-
2 min read