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October 28, 2019 To: Thomas Martin, Management Analyst III  Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles Management Department of Motor Vehicles Management Services and Programs Division 55 Wright Way, Carson City, NV 89711

Submitted electronically to tmartin01@dmv.gov

Barbara Cegavske Secretary of State 101 N Carson Street Suite 3 Carson City, NV 89701

Via Wayne Thorley

 

Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Office of Nevada Secretary of State Barbara K. Cegavske 101 North Carson Street, Suite 3 Carson City, NV 89701

Submitted electronically to wthorley@sos.nv.gov  Also submitted electronically to Jennifer Brooks, nvelect@sos.nv.govarson

This Site Pursuant to the Notice of Workshop to Solicit Comments on Proposed Regulations issued by the  Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and the Nevada Secretary of State, Demos, Mi Familia Vota and the national Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union submit these written comments concerning the Revised Proposed Regulation of the Department of Motor Vehicles, LCB File No. R028-19, and Revised Propose Regulations of the Secretary of State, LCB File No. R052-19. Our organizations

strongly support Nevada’s adoption of 

 automatic voter registration, and we are  pleased to see the Secretary of State and Department of Motor Vehicles moving forward with implementation. We offer these comments with the goal of helping make the process more robust.

 Provision of Voter Registration for Individuals Applying for Driver Authorization Cards

Individuals applying for or renewing

Driver’s Authorization Cards (“DAC”)

must be given an affirmative opportunity to register to vote. As currently drafted, the regulations appear to exclude these individuals from the automatic voter registration

(“AVR”)

system conducted by

the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”)

. We urge the DMV and Secretary of State

(“SOS”)

 to amend the regulations to provide individuals applying for or renewing

Driver’s

Authorization Cards with an opportunity to register to vote as part of the DAC application or renewal process.

 

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 Not all applicants for or holders of DACs are non-citizens. The DMV in Nevada currently does not have a systematic process for collecting information about the citizenship status of

individuals seeking any driver’s license or 

 state ID, including DACs. The DMV and election officials in Nevada, therefore, do not have complete information about whether individuals with

Driver’s Authorization Card

s are or are not US citizens, and have no basis to prevent these individuals from receiving any voter registration services. They should be given an affirmative opportunity to register to vote. We see no compelling reason why applicants who are willing to attest to their citizenship under  penalty of perjury to register to vote should be treated differently based on the type of license or ID card they are applying for. At the very least, DAC applicants must be given an alternative affirmative opportunity to register to vote during their DMV transactions.

Automatic Voter Registration of Applicants for Non-DAC Licenses and ID Cards

As currently drafted, the regulations do not clearly explain the automatic voter registration system

during driver’s license transactions in which individuals are not required to provide

documentation of their identity or residency to the DMV. The proposed DMV regulation explains that an applicant who provides one of the documents identified in LCB File No. R052-

19 § 3, “

with

 

his or her application to the Department of Motor Vehicles” will be excluded from

the AVR process. LCB File No. R028-19 (Oct. 3, 2019) (emphasis added). In other words, the regulation excludes only those who provide one of the listed non-citizen documents contemporaneously with their DMV transaction. The regulation thus implicitly requires that the DMV to include in the AVR process those who are not required to provide any documents during their DMV transaction

 —for example, during a driver’s license

renewal transaction

 — 

 but who may have shown one of the listed documents during a prior transaction. Such a requirement

makes sense because, given the time between driver’s license renewals, document

s can become out-of-date and no

longer reflect the individual’s immigration status— 

for example, in the case of an individual who was a permanent resident at the time of obtaining

a driver’s license but

has since become a naturalized citizen. In such circumstances, the regulations implicitly require the DMV to rely on whether the individual has attested to U.S. citizenship on the DMV transaction form to determine whether the individual should or should not be included in the AVR process. We believe this is the appropriate procedure and that it is required by 2018 Ballot Question No. 5, and we suggest that the proposed regulation be amended to make explicit these implicit requirements.

Automatic Voter Registration During Mail and Online DMV Transactions

As drafted, the proposed regulations do not distinguish, for purposes of AVR, between

transactions conducted in person at a DMV field office or remotely via the mail or the DMV’s

website. Accordingly, consistent with the requirements of 2018 Ballot Question No. 5, the regulations evidently require qualified individuals to be included in the AVR process regardless