Nielsen Calls for Delegation of DMV Voter Registration

After the California Globe released a story on John Cox and his determination to get the Department of Motor Vehicles back on track, other state legislators are also planning to take action.

The article touched on the DMV’s dismal state of affairs and the legislature’s failure to keep the department organized. Furthermore, recent reports have bombarded the program for its mishandling of voter registration that has involved anywhere from 80,000 to 100,000 people.

While numerous officials have called for increased accountability including Jerry Brown’s recent audit announcement, some say more needs to be done. State Senator Jim Nielsen (R-Chico) says he will be introducing legislation next session to completely remove voter registration as one of the DMV’s responsibilities.

Nielsen said today the “DMV botched 100,000 voter registrations. It is the job of Sec. of State & local elections officials. I will introduce legislation to get DMV out of voter registration biz it can focus on issuing licenses & car registrations. Perhaps, this will result in shorter lines!”

It is not clear how many other officials will support fully removing this task or what sort of program will be instituted to take over; however, it would certainly help to alleviate the DMV’s outrageous wait times.

Senator Nielsen serves as Vice Chair for the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee as well as Appropriations.