Customer Service Center Operations Manual

Citizenship/Motor Voter Accountability
CSCOM-906

PURPOSE:

Provide a statewide policy for auditing and correcting errors in recording customer responses to citizenship/Motor Voter questions and guidelines for employee accountability.

DESCRIPTION:

<<<<<REVISION
Pursuant to Code of Virginia § 24.2-411.1, DMV is tasked with providing each customer the opportunity to apply to register to vote or change their voter registration address and to forward voter registration applications to the Department of Elections (ELECT) in Richmond for customers who:   END REVISION>>>>>

• Apply for, replace, reissue, or renew a driver's license,
• Apply for, replace, reissue, or renew an identification card, OR
• Request to change an address (refer to DLG-0601).

When customer responses to the citizenship or motor voter questions are entered into the system incorrectly the consequences to the customer can be severe:

<<<<<REVISION

• Registered voters may be INCORRECTLY removed from the voter files at ELECT, resulting in the LOSS OF THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE, OR   END REVISION>>>>>
• Non-citizens may be offered the opportunity to apply to register to vote, in violation of the law.

CSC and District Management must ensure that the guidelines set forth in this procedure are carried out fairly to ensure compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter). Failure to follow the guidelines provided in this procedure will result in corrective and disciplinary action.

DEFINITIONS:

Citizenship/Motor Voter Error - An error that occurs when a CSR enters a response different from that documented on the customer's application.

Citizenship/Motor Voter Error Counseling Event - A counseling session conducted by the manager with the employee to discuss Citizenship/Motor Voter errors.

CSR RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Process the DL/ID or Address Change transaction per the current procedures (DLG-102 & DLG-0601).
2. Process transactions efficiently and accurately by carefully reviewing all applications and documents presented to ensure:
   1. Customer answers to the Citizenship and Voter Registration questions are keyed into the system exactly as marked on the application.
   2. If the customer has failed to mark a response to one or both of the two questions on the application, give the application back to the customer and ask them to answer the question(s).
   3. If the customer refuses to mark one or both of the questions, key "R" for "No Response" in the appropriate field on the Driver License Issue, Identification Card Issue, or Address Change screen in the system.
3. Double check processing to ensure that the customer's response matches what was entered in the system.
4. All CSR's involved in processing a transaction, whether initiating or recalling the transaction for completion, will be held accountable for citizenship/motor voter data entry errors related to the transaction.

AUDIT CSR RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. The Motor Voter audit CSR will verify that customer responses to the "U.S. Citizen" and "Voter Registration" questions on the application match the data keyed into the system by either the CSR who initiated the transaction, or by the last CSR who recalled or completed the transaction.
2. Go into MySelect to correct the responses stored on CSS Host to match those on the application.

NOTE: Failure to detect Citizenship Errors by an Audit CSR will be counted as Citizenship Errors against the Audit CSR, and the same counseling/correction process is used.

CSC MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. CSC management is responsible to review, monitor, and follow up on all Citizenship/Motor Voter discrepancies in their CSC.
2. Review the Citizenship/Motor Voter policy and performance expectations with each employee.
3. Identify employee performance needing improvement and create a viable plan of action for improvement. Action plans should include affording the employee a mentor to review daily processing.
4. Take the appropriate disciplinary action.

IMPORTANT POINTS:

• Take into consideration any existing mitigating circumstances.
• Be aware that the consideration of mitigating circumstances is not to be used by management to justify errors, or to reduce or eliminate necessary disciplinary action without good cause.
• When using mitigating circumstances to reduce disciplinary actions, record the circumstance being considered, why it justified consideration, and its effect on the action taken.
• Any mitigating circumstance used to alter actions required by this policy should be discussed with and approved by the district manager before action is taken.

With approval from District Office, in situations where compelling conditions exist, CSC management may reduce the level of a corrective action taken to promote the interests of fairness and objectivity based on an employee's otherwise dependable, accurate and efficient work performance.

DISTRICT OFFICE RESPONSIBILITIES:

• With some exceptions, MOST Citizenship/Motor Voter disciplinary actions that exist on employee records prior to implementation of this policy will remain.
• If an employee shows a marked improvement in the number of Citizenship/Motor Voter occurrences in a 6 to 12 month period, with approval from the District Manager, CSC Management may take this into consideration when determining subsequent actions, or for employee evaluation.

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