Last week, an Erie County auto bureau staffer noticed a discrepancy when someone applying for a non-driver identification card registered to vote during the application process.

"They had a Green Card so we knew right then and there, the staff member knew that that person was here legally in the country however they would not have the right to vote," County Clerk Mickey Kearns said.

Kearns said it’s the second time this has happened since New York's Green Light Law went into effect in mid-December. After the first incident, the clerk's office and the county Board of Elections developed a policy so BOE staff could legally be notified.

"This is now the second time in Erie County. Are you telling me that this is not happening anywhere else in the state of New York?" Kearns asked.

He said other counties have not instituted a similar policies to work around information sharing restrictions in the law which allows people in the country illegally to apply for driver's licenses. He suspects with more people who aren't citizens having the easy option to register to vote, some are slipping through the cracks.

"Is it just people in Erie County that break the law and vote illegally? I don't think so," Kearns said. "I think it's happening and I would just say, there are people looking into this and I would be very careful if you have registered to vote and you are here illegally."

In both Erie County cases, the people who registered were in the country legally. Kearns said that's at least partly because his auto bureaus have yet to process any licenses for those here illegally.

"We haven't issued any Green Light licenses," he said. "They're still under review. We're working on that. It hasn't gotten to that point yet."

Kearns estimated roughly 170 people in the county have applied with foreign documents now acceptable under the law. The office has been able to verify about 70 for federal REAL IDs, the rest they continue to work to authenticate.

"We have just about under 100 we're reviewing that are pending," he said.

He said clerks may have more guidance after a judge hears arguments next month in a lawsuit regarding Green Light and potential voter fraud. Kearns said he's joined the suit as an intervenor, referencing the cases he's dealt with locally.