Fact check: Are California Republicans having voter registration changed without consent?

A California Republican lawmaker claimed on Thursday that a “flood of registered Republicans” in her county have had their party switched because of actions taken by the Secretary of State’s Office.

Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, is echoing inaccurate sentiments spread within conservative circles across the state that California elected officials are purposefully disenfranchising Republican voters by switching them to no party preference without consent.

“We’ve had a flood of registered Republicans in SD28 receive notification that they’re now NPP,” Melendez wrote on Twitter. “They did not change their party. The Secretary of State appears to have done it for them anyway.”

Under rules set by the state party, Republicans must be registered with their own party in order to vote for President Donald Trump and other Republicans in the March 3, 2020 primary.

Voters who are listed with “no party preference” have received postcards over the last month informing them that they can request a ballot for the Democratic, Libertarian or American Independent Party, leading some Republicans to spread theories that they are intentionally being taken off the GOP voter rolls.

While it’s true hundreds of Californians, including some lifelong Republicans, have been unknowingly switched to no party preference, Secretary of State Alex Padilla is largely not to blame for the problem.

There are several ways a California voter may have accidentally switched parties. They could have done it on their own and forgotten, mistakenly filled out a complex government form or had an election worker improperly enter their voter data. None of these errors would come from the Secretary of State’s Office, as Melendez suggested.

Additionally, postcard recipients concerned they’ve been wrongly registered can still change their party affiliation and cast a ballot before Election Day, or even on Election Day.

How are registration mistakes happening?

In many cases, people forget they switched to no party preference. A less likely possibility, voters could have had their registration changed if election workers inaccurately entered voter data.

Registration errors also could have taken place if voters rs improperly filled out a confusing prompt at the Department of Motor Vehicles that Padilla helped draft.

The Motor Voter program, which launched in April 2018 to automatically register eligible voters when they visit the DMV, defaulted some people in 2018 to no party preference, even if they had previously been registered with a qualified political party.

Padilla and the DMV updated the form in January 2019 to require people to choose one of the following three options and later confirm their selected response before they submit the form:

• I want to register to vote
• I am registered to vote and want to update my voter registration information. This will overwrite your previous political party preference
• I do not want to vote or update my voter registration information.

The DMV advises voters to select the third option if they are already registered and don’t want anything changed.

Some customers remain confused about which of the three options they should select.

Richard Conrad said he and his wife struggled to understand the form when they filled it out online. “We wanted a box that said, ‘I am registered to vote and do not wish to change my voter registration information.’”

Melendez said fault ultimately lies with Padilla since he oversees state elections but walked back her comments that his office was to blame for people having their party affiliations switched.

“Even if they didn’t do it, I think they’ve got to be a resource for people to fix this problem,” Melendez said.

Those concerned about their registration and party affiliation status are encouraged to review their information online at voterstatus.sos.ca.gov and make changes at registertovote.ca.gov. Voters can also make changes to their registration in person at their local county elections office or call 1-800-345-VOTE to request a new voter registration card.

Even if the above steps are not taken, voters can still go to their polling places on Election Day to change their registration and request a provisional ballot for their desired party.

Source behind Melendez’s claim

Asked for evidence to support her claim, Melendez cited a text message she said she received Wednesday from East Valley Republican Women, a political group based in Riverside that claimed 50 lifelong GOP voters in the area spoke with the group’s office on Wednesday about being registered incorrectly.

“Yesterday, we were bombarded with people coming in saying they’ve been Republican all their life, and, all of a sudden, they get this postcard that says they’re registered with no party preference and that they could only choose a Democrat,” said Joy Miedecke, president of East Valley Republican Women.

The group declined to provide the names or other relevant information about the 50 people it claimed were incorrectly registered on Wednesday and 10 additional people it identified Thursday morning.

“The Secretary of State’s job is to find out what the heck is going on and to make sure it’s corrected because we are weeks away from a primary election,” Melendez said.

The Secretary of State’s Office has not been provided a list of names from Melendez.

This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Fact check: Are California Republicans having voter registration changed without consent?."