I moved from Florida to California in July 2022. I didn’t know the law about timing regarding transferring a vehicle registration; I figured it was 30 days. It’s 20 days from the time the vehicle enters California. I was late and received a $360 penalty tacked onto the registration fee. The total was $1361.
I was overcharged by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and was informed I’d get a $79 refund. After seven phone calls to the DMV, two applications for a refund, and two letters to the DMV Headquarters, I learned this morning that the DMV is “running behind” and to expect the refund as late as January 28, 2023. That’s five months after they overcharged me.
In contrast, I emailed the county where I was registered to vote in Florida to tell them I’d moved and needed to cancel my voter registration. Within minutes of sending the mail, I got a reply with an attached form that I was to complete and send back. I filled out the form, made it into a PDF, attached it to their email response, and sent it on its way. Within 1 hour of sending the document to the Florida voter registration office, I received an email confirming my voter registration was canceled. The whole process took less than 2 hours.
In the meantime, there are three California congressional seats where the victor has not been determined because they are still counting ballots a week later. Republicans are ahead in all three. In District 3, sixty percent of the votes have been counted, in District 13, seventy-one percent, and in District 22, fifty-one percent. Back in Florida, vote counting was finished last week primarily on election day.
