State’s Voters Are Being Asked to Volunteer Driver’s License Numbers

Secretary of State Bill Jones is asking voters statewide to send him their driver’s license numbers as part of a program to attach a number to each registered voter.

The request is being made in voter guides mailed this week to the state’s 14.5 million voters.

The program is designed to eliminate duplicate registrations that occur mainly when people relocate and reregister, said spokesman Alfie Charles. He said the program could save the state up to $5 per name in every election by reducing the cost of printing and mailing election materials.

Voting rights experts said that so long as the program is voluntary, it poses few obvious difficulties for voting rights. However, the mail-in form, which is inside the back cover on the “Voter Information Guide and Ballot Pamphlet,” does not explicitly state that the program is voluntary.

The mail-in form states that the Legislature in 1996 “authorized elections officials to collect driver’s license numbers on the voter registration form” and asks that voters “please help us reduce costs by filling out and returning this page.”

“The fact that it is voluntary but doesn’t mention it could create some problems,” Michelle Chang of the Asian Pacific Legal Center in Los Angeles said.

The form asks for the voter’s name, address, date of birth, driver’s license or California ID number and signature. It is attached to the back page of the sample ballot, which contains the voter’s mailing label, so that the information can be linked directly to a specific voter in the statewide list called CalVoter.

The program is not expected to have much immediate impact in finding duplicate registrations, Charles said. Most voters have not yet provided license numbers to voting officials because it is not required under state law.

Registrars agree that the program won’t be effective in catching duplicate registrations for several years.

“We are not using it yet because less than 10% of the voters on the rolls in Orange County have provided driver’s license numbers,” Orange County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever said.

Fred Woocher, a Los Angeles lawyer who specializes in election law, questioned whether the program will be effective. “I am sure the response rate will be abysmal,” he said.

Woocher said that gathering the numbers raises few concerns, but it could cause problems if the information is used to disqualify voters. “How do they ensure that it is really the same person?” he asked.

Currently, California is barred from requiring that voters submit their driver’s license numbers or their Social Security numbers as a universal identifier for voting purposes.

Voters also are not required to provide identification when they cast a ballot or register. A bill requiring voter ID at the polls is on the Assembly floor.

Earlier this year, a program to have registration officials in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties collect driver’s license numbers from voters in a March special election sparked protests. People at the polls complained that only some voters were asked to show photo identification.

“I don’t know if it was applied discriminatingly, but the mere fact that people believed it was and felt so strongly that they complained about it was a problem,” Woocher said.

Voting officials said a similar program, which was to be used in the June primary, has been dropped.