Gov Signs Bill -- Backed By Dems, Opposed by Repubs -- Requiring DMV Automatically To Register To Vote All Citizen Driver License Applicants Unless They Opt Out
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(Oct. 10, 2015) -- Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law AB 1461, a bill that will require the Dept. of Motor Vehicles automatically to register to vote all citizen driver license applicants (original or renewal) unless they specifically opt out of the process.
The bill passed the state legislature along party lines, with Dems supportive (including Assemblymembers Patrick O'Donnell (D, LB) and Anthony Rendon (D, Lakewood), and state Senator Ricardo Lara (D, LB-Huntington Park.) State Senator Janet Nguyen (R, SE LB/west OC) voted "no" on the measure. (For vote tallies, click here.
Once the CA Secretary of State has a statewide voter registration database in place (currently aiming for the 2016 Presidential election cycle), the bill will require the DMV electronically to provide the CA Secretary of State's office with the following information for every person who submits an application for a driver license (original or renewal): name, date of birth, residence of mailing address, digitized signature, telephone number if available, email address if available, language preference, political party preference, whether the applicant wants to become a permanent vote by mail voter, whether the person affirmatively declines to become registered to vote during a DMV transaction, a notation that the applicant attests that he/she meets voter eligibility requirements including U.S. citizenship and other information that will be specified in regulations to be adopted.
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Oregon was the first state in the nation to adopt an automatic voter registration law; CA now becomes the second...and lawmakers in at least 15 other states have introduced similar bills.
For the full text of AB 1461 as signed into law, click here.
CA began issuing driver licenses to illegal immigrants earlier this year, but those licenses are distinctively marked and people with them won't be part of the automatic voter registration process.
Some national Dems have adopted mandatory voter registration as a campaign issue; in June, Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged all states to automatically register citizens to vote when they turn 18 unless they choose to opt out.
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Apart from the new CA law's potential game-changing partisan political consequences (intended and unintended), there are also significant non-partisan election consequences: the new law will almost certainly make it harder to recall elected officials, qualify petition-initiated measures for the ballot and repeal laws by referendum. Those rights were enacted as CA reforms to empower citizens to adopt or repeal laws and constitutional amendments without the support of the Governor or the Legislature (or local politicians)...and remove incumbents during their terms if sufficient voters deem it advisable.
Current state law bases the number of signatures required to recall an elected official on the number of registered voters in the jurisdiction involved; to put a petition-initiated measure on the ballot or repeal a law by referendum requires collecting signatures based on the number of persons voting in the last Gubernatorial election. By effectively increasing the number of those signatures over time, the new law will likely make the current numerical hurdles to recalls, initiatives and referenda harder to meet.
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A state Senate legislative analysis listed support and opposition to the measure as follows:
SUPPORT: (Verified 9/8/15)
Secretary of State Alex Padilla (source)
Julia Brownley, Member of Congress
Jim Costa, Member of Congress
Judy Chu, Member of Congress
Anna G. Eshoo, Member of Congress
Sam Farr, Member of Congress
John Garamendi, Member of Congress
Janice Hahn, Member of Congress
Mike Honda, Member of Congress
Ted Lieu, Member of Congress
Zoe Lofgren, Member of Congress
Alan Lowenthal, Member of Congress
Grace Napolitano, Member of Congress
Lucille Roybal-Allard, Member of Congress
Adam Schiff, Member of Congress
Brad Sherman, Member of Congress
Eric Swalwell, Member of Congress
Mark Takano, Member of Congress
Mike Thompson, Member of Congress
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Association of Nonprofits
California Foundation for Independent Living Centers
California Labor Federation
California League of Conservation Voters
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California Public Interest research Group
California School Employees Association
California State Council of the Service Employees Int'l Union
California Teachers Association
CalNonprofits
Congregations Building Community
Consumer Attorneys of California
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Democratic Party
Mi Familia Vota Education Fund
Placer County Democratic Central Committee
San Diego Unified School District
Sierra Club California
State Coalition of Probation Organizations
University of California Student Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/4/15)
American Civil Liberties Union of California
Asian Americans Advancing Justice- Los Angeles
California Immigrant Policy Center
Canal Alliance
Causa Justa: Just Cause
Central American Resource Center-Los Angeles
Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition
Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project
Mujeres Unidas y Activas
Northern California Chapter of American Immigration Lawyers Ass'n
Southern California Coalition of Occupational Safety and Health
