Motor Voter Bill Seen Boosting State Rolls 15%

Newly approved federal motor voter legislation could swell the number of registered voters in California by 15%, or 3 million people, a top state election official said Wednesday.

The bill, which President Clinton has said he will sign, will take effect in 1995, one year before the 1996 presidential elections. It requires that voter registration forms be made available at state motor vehicle and welfare offices, among other offices.

In anticipation of the bill becoming law, employees in the office of Secretary of State March Fong Eu and technicians at the California Department of Motor Vehicles have been working for months to design a form that will enable driver’s license applicants to also register to vote if they wish. Officials said the new forms are likely to cause longer lines at DMV offices.

About 15 million Californians are registered to vote and an estimated 6 million more are eligible to register.

“We believe voter registration is going to increase by 15% or more beyond what would be the normal increase based on population growth,” said Chief Deputy Secretary of State Tony Miller.

Miller said this would amount to 3 million new registrants being added to the rolls as the legislation is implemented.

“We estimate that 90% of the eligible-to-register voters have contact with the Department of Motor Vehicles,” he said. “We believe that it is going to be the primary mode of registering to vote in California,” replacing registration by mail.

California voter registration laws already are considered relatively liberal. Voters can sign up by mail or register in person at county courthouses or at county fairs. They can pick up forms at post offices, DMV field offices and local government agencies.

The motor voter proposal seeks to make voter registration even more accessible by integrating the procedure with other governmental processes. “Assuming they are eligible citizens, the opportunity to vote becomes part of the application process itself,” Miller said.

At DMV headquarters in Sacramento, officials were less than enthusiastic about the bill, but said they were resigned to the reality that it soon will become law.

Registering to vote at the same time a motorist receives a new license or a renewal “will be more time-consuming for both our customers and our technicians,” department spokesman Bill Madison said. “Customers will be subject to longer lines, and our technicians will have to spend time explaining voter registration.

“But (motor voter) is going to happen, and we have to find a way to make it work as efficiently as possible,” Madison said.

He said department officials estimate that a dual driver’s license and voter registration procedure will add $5 million in administrative costs to the department’s budget, a sum disputed by Miller, who said extra costs to both the DMV and the secretary of state likely would total $2 million to $3 million.

Miller said state officials also are looking at welfare and state health agency offices as potential spots to offer voter registration, but they are focusing now on the DMV because “that’s where the action is.”

Miller said officials envision a form that will enable a motorist to apply for a driver’s license and separately register to vote. Some states use a simple carbon copy system, he said, noting that no one will be coerced to sign up as a voter.

One benefit of the new registration system, Miller added, is that it would enable election officials to more easily track voters when they move and fail to re-register. “When voters move, we want their vote to follow them, and we want to eliminate duplicate registrations.”

In the Legislature, Republicans have long opposed such legislation, contending that it would create a system ripe for abuse and fraud. Democrats, in contrast, have argued that fears of fraud are overblown and that such a registration system would open the electoral process to more people.

It is unclear whether motor voter registration would benefit either the Democratic or Republican party in California, said Caren Daniels-Meade, chief of elections in the secretary of state’s office.

She said anecdotal evidence from states with similar systems shows that “there has not been a dramatic advantage to either of the two major parties.”

Bob Mulholland, political director of the California Democratic Party, said the new law should help his party enlist more young people to vote just as President Clinton is seeking reelection.

But the increase in registered voters may not result in a proportional turnout of new voters, Mulholland said, because those who have not registered under the present system may not be as highly motivated to go to the polls.

“Very simply, if you add 100 people who, the only reason they registered is that someone put a card in front of them, maybe only 30 or 40 of them will vote,” he said.

Generally, Republicans have feared that a motor voter system might favor Democrats by extending the franchise to people who might favor more government programs--welfare recipients, for example.

But John Peschong, communications director of the California Republican Party, said Wednesday: “The more people who vote, the better off our country is. Increasing voter registration in the state of California is fantastic. We just don’t know where we’re going to get the money to pay for it.”