[vienna]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

These days anyone can get a voter registration card. I hear in California you're automatically enrolled when you turn 18


I had to show my U.S. Passport to the DMV before they would issue a drivers license.

It is true here in CA there is automatic enrollment, but there is a vast difference between being registered to vote and actually voting; in 2016, the last year for which statewide voter participation stats are available, the voter turnout was only 56% of the total registered. Some people try to confuse/conflate the idea of registration with actual participation in order to make a situation seem far worse than it actually is; here in LA County, a local TV 'hard hitting investigative reporter' ran a segment about how over 540 name of dead voter were still on the rolls; however, there were only 17 votes cast under those names and it was not said if those votes were actually counted, just that votes in those many had been cast. So, those 17 votes represent only 0.031% of the dead voters on the rolls, and, there being over 5,000,000 registered voters in LA County, those 17 represent only 0.0000034% of the total registered voters. Let's face it: those 17 votes, if they weren't caught by the verification process, would have about as much affect on the vote tallies as adding a grain of sand to a beach. Trump started all this hoo-haw about voter fraud, neither he nor his minions have been ever able to come forward with a single, solid instance of wide voter fraud and, when you look at the actual stats regarding the true extent of alleged fraud, the results are there is no evidence of election-affecting fraud...

As far as the automatic registration goes, the program here in CA is part of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, a Federal Law:


About The National Voter Registration Act --

https://www.justice.gov/crt/about-na...gistration-act


CA's system is provided through the Department Of Motor Vehicles (DMW):

California Motor Voter --

https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/cal...a-motor-voter/

Since 1993, the National Voter Registration Act, often known as the Motor Voter law, has helped millions of people register to vote or update their voter information during a driver license or ID card transaction at the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The California Motor Voter program applies to Californians who are 18 or older and meet the following criteria:

• A United States citizen and a resident of California.
• Not currently in state or federal prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony
• Not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court.

Voter pre-registration is available for Californians who are 16 or 17 years old. They will automatically be registered to vote when they turn 18. Before visiting a DMV field office, we recommend making an appointment. You can also use DMV online services to renew your driver license or ID card or change your address.

If you indicate that you are eligible to vote, once you complete your DMV transaction online, by mail, or in person, your voter information is transmitted securely and electronically to the California Secretary of State. Once your eligibility to vote is determined, you will be registered to vote.

Individuals with AB 60 driver's licenses are not eligible to participate in the California Motor Voter program and are not eligible to vote.

So, in spite of your allusion to a 'global' automatic registration at age 18, it only applies a person applies for a Driver's License; no DL application, no automatic registration. Everybody else, 18 or over have to register, if they wish, the old fashioned way and fill out the form in their county. Note, also, the National Voter Registration Act is nationwide, has been in effect abut 25 years, and I would suspect there are similar programs in the other states, so basically noting new and nothing sinister...


Your state must make it pretty easy if all you needed was a passport to Id yourself for a license; here in CA, this is what you need to get apply for a license (from the CA DMV website):

Provide proof of your Social Security number*, such as your:

Social Security card.
Military ID card.

Provide proof of your full and true name. The CA DMV provides a list of documents, including documents that show:

Marriage or verification of domestic partnership formation.
Dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership.
Name change. (Must include original and new names.)

Provide 1 document (original or certified) that proves your birth date and legal presence from the state's list of documents, which includes:

U.S. birth certificate.
U.S. passport.

Present 1 document proving your California residency from the DMV's list of approved documentation, which includes:

Mortgage bill.
Utility bills.
Rental or lease agreement signed by your landlord.

Have your thumbprint taken.

Have your photo taken.

...and, under the new Federal Real ID Act of 2005, the CA DMV will require a certified copy of a birth certificate, something you have to get from whoever holds the records of your birth...


That's the problem with the country nowadays: lenient states that allow people to get thing like licenses with just a passport...











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