Erie County Clerk
Press Releases
10/23/07
Erie County Clerk Alerts Local Board of Elections
Of Potential for Voter Fraud If Drivers' Licenses Are
Issued for Illegal Immigrants
Calls for State Legislation to Require Sharing of Data Between the DMV and Board of Elections to Deter Voter Fraud
Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul contacted the Commissioners of the Erie County Board of Elections to notify them that the DMV would no longer have information available that would help screen out voter fraud. "I find it outrageous that if this plan goes through, we will have direct knowledge that someone is illegal and is attempting to register to vote and cannot alert the Board of Elections. This defies logic, and it must be changed," said Hochul.
Hochul explained that beginning December 1, 2007 licenses will be issued to applicants regardless of legal status or citizenship. Because New York is a motor voter state, this has raised concerns about illegal aliens registering to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles. To address this concern, the Commissioner of the DMV issued a revised procedure on October 2 that would only allow a Yes in the Motor Voter field if a social security card were presented. If there was no social security card presented, N would be entered in the motor voter field and voter registration would not be accepted.
In response to concerns presented by the NYS Board of Elections, the DMV was apparently required to change this procedure. On Friday, County Clerks received notice that an "UPDATE TO MOTOR VOTER PROCESSING CHANGE" was issued rescinding the October 2nd procedure. Voter registration forms are required to be accepted regardless of legal status and transmitted to the Board of Elections.
County Clerk Hochul said she wrote to make the Erie County Board of Elections aware of this issue and to request that they subject motor voter registrations to an intensified level of scrutiny since the County Clerk's Office can no longer assist in verifying that an applicant is entitled to vote in New York State. "This gap in communication between two State agencies should be corrected by State Legislation---as soon as possible," said Hochul.
