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
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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 Cards 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, documents 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

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of the means by which they interact with the DMV (including, as explained above, those who are
not required to submit identity documents that can be used to assess eligibility but who attest to
citizenship during the DMV transaction).

Currently, it is possible for Nevadans to renew their driver’s licenses and report a new address to
the DMV online and through the mail. See https://dmvapp.nv.gov/DMV/Application/
DMVPortal/Pages/Default.aspx and https://dmvnv.com/addchange.htm#options. Under existing
rules, voter registration services are provided during those transactions, and a significant number
of individuals take advantage of those voter registration services. Per the data from the Secretary
of State, in 2017 approximately 91,000 individuals conducted a voter registration transaction
through one of these remote DMV processes; in 2018, the number was approximately 81,000
individuals, and in 2019, so far it has been approximately 42,000 individuals. See
https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/elections/voters/registering-to-vote/national-voter-registration-act-
nvra/nvra-reports. These individuals must be included in the AVR system, and the regulations
should be amended to make this requirement clear and unambiguous.

Distribution of Voter Registration Applications in Some Circumstances:

While nearly all eligible individuals should be automatically registered to vote via the AVR
system, we recommend adding language to LCB File No. R028-19 to make it clear that paper
voter registration applications must be affirmatively distributed by the DMV to all individuals
who are not included in AVR, regardless of whether those individuals ask for those applications.
To achieve this, we recommend adding language to Section 1 of LCB File No. R028-19 similar
to the following:

(d) If any applicant is not registered to vote using the automatic voter registration system
but attests to being a US citizen and eligible to register to vote under penalty of perjury,
the Department shall:

(1) informed the applicant that: (A) his or her information will not be transmitted
electronically to the Secretary of State and county clerks through the automatic
voter registration system; and (B) if the applicant meets the qualifications to vote
in this State, as provided in NRS 293.485, he or she may submit to the
Department a paper application to register to vote pursuant to NRS 293.524;

and

(2) affirmatively provide the applicant with a prepopulated voter registration

application by during their transaction. The DMV must accept any of these voter
registration applications returned by clients and deliver them to election officials
consistent with NRS 293.524.