More than 544,000 Californians have registered to vote for the Nov. 6 General Election online during the first month the paperless option was made available, according to an Oct. 17 release from the California Secretary of State (SOS).
"Given all of the important issues on the November ballot, I am delighted so many Californians want to make their voices heard," said SOS Debra Bowen, California’s chief elections officer. "Since registering to vote is easier than ever with the quick online option, there is no excuse for not being ready to vote on Election Day."
The SOS, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and California’s three Election Management System vendors—DIMS, DFM and Votec—launched the registration application system in September. The cost to design, build and implement COVR has been paid by the SOS using federal Help America Vote Act and Federal Voting Assistance Program grant funds.
How it works: When a person fills out a voter registration application on the COVR website, the SOS will match the applicant’s California driver license or identification card number, date of birth and last four social security digits against the DMV database. If an exact match is found, the DMV will send the applicant’s electronic signature image on file with the DMV to the SOS. The DMV has electronic signature images on file for approximately 94 percent of California citizens.
According to the SOS, election officials must still verify eligibility and check for duplicate records before adding someone to the official voter roll. Additionally, the 544,000 number consists of registration updates as well as new voters.
In California, voter registration application volume peaks each October before a November statewide general election. Hundreds of thousands of registration applications are submitted in the final weeks before a voter registration deadline. Official statistics for all registrations will be available Nov. 2.
The deadline to register for the Nov. 6 election is Oct. 22. Californians can access the online system at RegisterToVote.ca.gov.
