New database rejects eligible California voters

10.04.2006
California's new voter registration database -- whose creation the U.S. federal government once called a model for other states -- may prevent thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots in a June 6 statewide election, officials fear.

Since the database was installed last December, the voter registration process has been invalidating numerous registrations, mostly as a result of minor data-entry problems.

For example, 14,629 out of 34,064 voter registration forms -- or 43 percent -- were "kicked out," or rejected, in Los Angeles County between Jan. 1 and March 15. Such results have election officials statewide fearing that the new registration system will bump eligible voters from the voter rolls.

The problems could first affect a small number of local elections starting this month, including a special congressional election tomorrow in San Diego County.

The registration database, run by Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, was mandated by the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The law requires that each state establish a centralized voter registration database.

In an e-mail response to questions, a spokeswoman for McPherson wouldn't provide technical details of the system, nor would she talk about the nature of the problems. She did note that 74 percent of voter registrations are cleared on the first try. The rest, she said, require manual validation by county elections workers.