AGENDA 21 RADIO

BY PAUL PRESTON

ABC NEWS, CHICO, CA

CHICO, Calif. – On Friday Candace Grubbs, the Butte County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters, contacted the California Secretary of State’s office, to suggest that agencies work together to better ensure only legal citizens vote in future elections.

Specifically, Grubbs wants to know why the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which now issues licenses to non-citizens, does not notify the statewide data base if a driver and potential voter is an illegal citizen.

While emphasizing that she’s seen only a few instances of attempted fraud in Butte County during her 30 years in her position, Grubbs believes the DMV and the Secretary of State’s office should work together to rid election rolls of non-citizens.

“Why the DMV does not share the citizen/non-citizen information (with the Secretary of State’s office), I do not know,” said Grubbs.

Voter registration cards require a signature under the penalty of perjury that they are a legal citizen and over the age of 18. However, Grubbs said that non-citizens can lie and obtain a ballot, oftentimes without prosecution or even detection.

According to a report in the Los Angeles times 605,000 illegal citizens have obtained a driver’s license, which amounts to less than two percent of the entire population of the state.