By: Bryan Anderson
January 31, 2019
As California prepared to launch its new Motor Voter program last year, top elections officials say they asked Secretary of State Alex Padilla to hold off on the roll-out. …
“There wasn’t the appropriate readiness to go forward in April, and that was brought to the Secretary of State,” said Dean Logan, registrar for Los Angeles County, adding that he “definitely expressed concern” to the Secretary of State’s Office, as well as Padilla himself.
“The concern from registrars across the state, including myself, was not a resistance to moving forward. We supported the move to the New Motor Voter program in the long term. The concern was had there been adequate testing and development to be ready for the June election.”
California moved forward anyway.
The DMV has since acknowledged making 105,000 registration errors since Motor Voter began on April 23, 2018. Some customers were registered with the wrong party. Others who wished to opt out of the program were nevertheless signed up. …
Joe Holland, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said he warned Padilla’s office against the April launch. … “Our recommendation was not to deploy it that close to an election,” he said. “That was the opinion of most registrar of voters.” …
State Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, thinks the DMV’s implementation was flawed, but said Padilla should have taken more personal responsibility.
“If you were warned by industry experts that you’re going to have difficulties with the launch, he should have respected that,” Moorlach said. “Now that it’s sort of blown up, for him to say, ‘Hey, it was the DMV’s fault,’ I think it’s disingenuous. It’s his fault. He should have respected the advice of the experts and implementers.” …
Padilla declined to be interviewed after repeated requests from The Bee. Officials for the DMV and the California Department of Technology declined to comment. …
Read More Here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article224696945.html#storylink=cpy
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