Likely why some voters have their voter registration screwed up. (BMV)

[LiberalFighter]

The link was posted over at GDP.
Florida motor-voter foul-up means no primary ballots for some

The problem most likely stemmed from the way Florida handles motor-voter registrations and affected people who had updated their voter information while obtaining or renewing their driver license since the previous primary elections, county officials said. Because of the way the form is set up, these voters apparently didn’t indicate their party preference, leading the state to change their party affiliation, unbeknownst to the voters, from Democrat or Republican to “no party affiliation.”

Abrams said about 2,000 people had submitted provisional ballots in the presidential race after being told they weren’t properly registered. But probably fewer than half of these were affected by the motor-voter problem, officials said.

That’s because elections staff “literally attaches to each provisional ballot the information on when they became NPA,” Abrams said.

Some people made the switch decades ago and likely forgot, but for many, there was a printout showing that their registration was switched at the Department of Motor Vehicles, Abrams said.

Abrams said people likely either skipped over that page in their haste or presumed that if no box was checked, their party affiliation would default to what it had been.

But there is no such default in the process. If a voter, even a longtime party member, doesn’t select the party in updating his or her information, the default actually is “no party affiliation.”

These are two separate entities that for the most part don't know or understand how each performs their duties. It doesn't help to throw in IT people to create software when they don't understand what is really needed. Especially when the BMV doesn't have a clue about what is needed on the voter registration end.

What it appears to be saying when there is a default of "no party affiliation" is that the party affiliation data is not stored with the drivers license data. They likely purge the voter registration data once it is sent to the voter registration office.

[Thinkingabout]

1. I do not know if Florida mails voter registration cards to the voters but I see Democrat on my voter

registration. I am happy to see the driver's license assist in voter registration, hopefully more people will start voting. I can also see my voter registration on line. Hopefully attention has been brought to the primaries and how one registers with a party, Primaries after all is to select a nominee for our party. As we see attempts by republicans and independents to control our primary has occurred, hopefully a fix is in order.

[TwilightZone]

2. I agree that the process is not ideal, but party affiliation is literally the first item...

on the screen. I don't know about anyone else, but I would have assumed that I needed to select something.



That being said, if the default is "no party affiliation", that should be the box checked on that screen by default. It that's not an option, it should not allow you to proceed without making a selection, which is apparently what most people did. That would eliminate user error.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Yes, they need to review and see where there might be issues.

It might have the default without checking anything. If that is the case it needs to be changed.

There will always be people that don't follow directions or in too much of a hurry.

[TwilightZone]

4. After an election season full of excuses about "I didn't know the rules"...

My tolerance of "user error" is kind of low at the moment.

[SharonClark]

6. I agree you should be required check a party or NPA

Question for you: Does the form mean that you can check one of the 3 choice at the top OR one of the minor parties?

[TwilightZone]

7. I'm assuming it only allows one checked box on the entire page.

I think they separated Dem/Rep/Unaffiliated mainly to speed up the process since that probably covers 95% of voters.

[William769]

5. This just doesn't make sense to me. I live in Florida.

I lived at the same address for 18 years and I just recently moved last month (I sold my House & bought a Condo on the beach). Five days after I moved, I went down to the tax collectors office (that's where it's done here) to change the address on my driver's license & to also change the address on my vehicle registrations.

While I was there, the lady asked me if I wanted to register to vote, I informed her that I was already a registered voter. She then told me I could change my address there also for my voter registration & I replied sure. She made all the changes and while she was making the changes every step of the way she was confirming the information like Name, address, birth-date, party affiliation, & so forth. At the end she asked the questions like have everything you submitted true & correct, are you a convicted felon those types of questions & then we were done.

About a week later I got my new voter registration card in the mail and I checked it for accuracy and it was the same as what I said when I changed the address.

Why would this process be different for new voters? Or better yet when you get your card in the mail why not check it for it's accuracy?

I'm sorry but when I read stories like this I tend to blame the person it happened to. IT IS NOT HARD TO CHECK THE ACCURACY OF YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION. PERIOD.

P.S. in the 18 years I was at my last address nothing was ever changed by me or anyone else. Also my apologies if I have taken the story the wrong way.

[mercuryblues]

8. The last time I moved

I did the same at DMV. Only when I got my registration card in the mail they had inverted my birth date. I called up the registrar's office and they issued me a new one. 2 years later they started with the everything must match up exactly or not allowed to vote laws. I was glad I fixed it when I did. At the last minute they had a huge rush to fix registration cards and driver's licenses. Not everyone got theirs fixed in time.

[LiberalFighter]

10. I agree. I never heard of these issues back in 2012 or 2008.

So why now? 1) Voters that don't know what is happening. 2) Agitators stirring it up.

3) Maybe some is the fault of the DMV. But if people are not going to get to the bottom of what happened to them then I don't care. They are not making an effort to get it corrected which displays a lack of concern for others that might have the same problem. If it really happened.

[Historic NY]

9. Same in NY.

people are lazy a Dr license comes up for renewal in Ny every 8ys thanks to a smoke & mirrors budget maneuver, decades ago to collect double taxes. They don't update or change their address & then it comes voting time.