Page One

DMV snafu may leave many folks unregistered

By Judith Scherr Daily Planet Staff
Tuesday October 31, 2000

If you turned in a form to register to vote at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Oakland and you didn’t receive a sample ballot, you may not be registered. 

Some 35 to 40 people who believed they registered at the DMV on Claremont Avenue in Oakland have called the Alameda County Registrar’s Office with that complaint, said Sandy Creque, office manager for the registrar. 

Evan Nassoff, DMV spokesperson, called the problem “regrettable.” He said the DMV does its job of transmitting voter registration cards to the registrar of voters as best it can. “We make sure our part of the job is done effectively and efficiently,” he said. 

Sometimes, however, people forget to check the card where one is supposed to check it, to show there is an updated address. Other times, people have forgotten to fill out voter registration forms, he said. 

This number of complaints is “not unusual,” he said. 

But that answer did not satisfy the mom of one 18-year-old, who called the Daily Planet, wondering what the problem was. Asking that her name not be used, she said her son, anxious to vote for the first time, told her he filled out the correct form and turned it in to a DMV clerk in July. The registrar of voters, however, has no record of her son’s registration.  

Creque said the registrar’s office is taking pains to make sure everyone who has registered can cast a ballot. 

People who believe they are registered but did not receive a sample ballot should call the office of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters at 663-8683. The office will check to see if it has a record of the registration, Creque said. 

If there is no record, the caller can request materials to fill out, explaining that they did, in fact, register. Alternatively, they can pick up the materials at the registrar’s office in Oakland. 

The registrar’s address is 1225 Fallon Street, Room G1, Oakland, 94612. 

The person who completes these forms then must vote as an “absentee” voter, by coming in to the offices in Oakland.  

The registrar will then turn these ballots over to a judge. “The judge will make the determination,” Creque said. 

If the individual affected is disabled, or has another hardship which makes it difficult to come into the county office to vote, the registrar will make special arrangements to allow the person to vote at a polling place near that person’s house.