California DMV to be audited after lawmakers become suspicious of voter fraud

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- California's DMV has been rife with scandal.

On Wednesday morning, lawmakers agreed to yet another audit, this time focusing on the program that registers drivers to vote.

"The problems with motor voter have risen to such a degree that there is a bipartisan effort in this," said Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno).

The department has admitted mishandling voter registration information for 23,000 drivers and double-registering as many as 77,000 others.

Assemblyman Patterson claims over 500 Californians may not have been able to vote last November because the DMV did not send their information to the Secretary of State's office in time.

"The errors include registering 16-year-olds to vote. We have numbers of people who had their registration changed without their approval or knowledge, and actually sending them ballots they could vote through the mail," he said.

The Fresno County's Clerk's Office says it's no secret the DMV had processing problems last year, but it appears those issues have been straightened out.

"Most recently all the information we are receiving appears to be correct," Brandi Orth said.

The clerk says she still recommends for everyone to double-check their information on fresnovote.com, particularly if they were impacted by the problems with the Motor Voter system.

"That way you can make sure you're at the right address, confirm what party you want to be registered to, and if there is an election coming up it'll tell you if we've issued you a ballot," Orth said.

The audit will be heard at a special hearing in May.