Vehicle registrations do not trigger secure automatic voter registration updates.
Virginia’s HB 565/SB 315 will improve the accuracy of the voter registration rolls by automatically updating a voter’s registration record if the voter provides a different address to the Virginia DMV during a licensing or ID transaction. The voter would still have an opportunity to correct the change, if needed.
By automatically syncing voter registration records with DMV records, Virginia can ensure cleaner voter rolls and dramatically reduce the cost of undeliverable election mail. This commonsense policy has been successfully adopted on a bipartisan basis in states like Kentucky, Colorado, and Michigan.
- Myth: Under this bill, DMV customers who register their vehicles at a different address than their residence would have their voter registration address automatically updated.
- Fact: This is false. People sometimes register their vehicles at locations other than their residence. That’s why vehicle registrations should not trigger voter registration opportunities at the DMV. And under HB 565/SB 315, they won’t. The bill expressly excludes vehicle registration transactions from triggering any voter registration update. Under current law, and under this bill, only driver license and ID transactions trigger voter registration opportunities.
Here’s the proof:
- Under SB 315, a voter registration update is triggered when DMV customers who are already registered to vote in the Commonwealth “apply for, replace, or renew a driver’s license or other document issued under Chapter 3 (§ 46.2-300 et seq.) of Title 46.2” or who “change an address on an existing driver’s license or other document issued under Chapter 3 (§ 46.2-300 et seq.) of Title 46.2[.]” SB 315 Committee Substitute, at 3:56-65 (emphasis added).
- Chapter 3 of Title 46.2, “Licensure of Drivers”, regulates the issuance of driver licenses and identification cards.
- By contrast, Chapter 6 of Title 46.2, “Titling and Registration of Motor Vehicles”, regulates the issuance of vehicle registrations.
- By its plain terms, SB 315 simply does not authorize any voter registration updates triggered by a vehicle registration.
- This is fully consistent with current law, which only provides for voter registration and voter registration updates for DMV customers obtaining a license or ID. See Va. Code § 24.2-411.3(a).
For more information, please contact Communications Manager Tony Franquiz at franquiz@longwellpartners.com.