There's no reason to make a federal case out of it, suggests Kymberly Killian.

Fact is, Killian simply wasn't interested in registering to vote as she stood in line with dozens of other motorists. No matter what the U.S. Supreme Court says.

Killian was at the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Culver City this week, hours after the high court brushed aside California's challenge to the federal "motor voter" law that lets U.S. citizens register to vote at the same time they apply for a driver's license.

"Finding a place to register hasn't been my problem," explained Killian, a salesclerk who lives in Century City. "My problem is I haven't seen anybody I'd vote for."

There were nods of agreement as others in the line shrugged off the new voter sign-up program--one that was vigorously fought by Gov. Pete Wilson even as California began recruiting new voters at its DMV offices last June 19.

Wilson and other opponents of motor voter registration had argued that it would cost California as much as $35 million a year to implement the law. Its supporters had countered by saying that it would add another 3 million names to the state's voter rolls.

So far, both sides have been wrong.

Officials now estimate that voter registration at the state's 170 motor vehicle offices will cost $3 million a year to administer.

And during the seven months that the motor voter law has been in effect in California, only 457,470 of the 4.6 million motorists who have renewed or newly obtained a driver's license have also registered to vote.

About 46% of those were existing voters who merely used the DMV service to update their address with elections officials, according to statistics compiled by the California secretary of state.

Tear-off registration forms are included on driver's license renewal applications; people who haven't filled the form out in advance can do it at the DMV office.

"There haven't been any problems so far," said William Madison, a DMV spokesman in Sacramento. "It's not had a major impact on our lives in terms of longer lines or delays."

DMV offices also have regular mail-in voter registration forms available. "We have them on our counters--we've had them for years," Madison said.

State election officials say 74.7% (about 14.3 million) of California's 19.2 million potential voters are registered.