The Office of the Secretary of State and the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the state of Oregon confirmed on Saturday (September 14th) that over 300 non-US citizens have been mistakenly registered as legal voters since 2021. To prevent the spread of false information about potential election fraud, officials have stated that the Oregon Secretary of State has ordered the update of the state’s voter registration rolls.
According to Kevin Glenn, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Transportation, initial investigation and analysis revealed that these errors occurred when non-citizens applied for driver’s licenses, where data entry mistakes by employees or misreporting by applicants led to a total of 306 non-US citizens being registered as legal voters, with two individuals having cast votes since 2021.
Glenn mentioned that a contributing factor to this incident was Oregon allowing non-citizens to apply for driver’s licenses in 2019, with the law taking effect in 2021. Prior to this, the DMV would automatically register individuals as voters when they obtained a driver’s license or other identification.
“This is essentially a data entry issue,” explained Glenn. He pointed out that when staff members input personal information for driver’s license or state ID applicants, they may mistakenly label the applicants as having US birth certificates or passports when in reality these applicants do not possess US citizenship.
Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade stated in a release that she had ordered the update of 0.01% of voter registration information. “Non-citizen residents who were erroneously registered will receive mail notifications (disqualifying them from voting), unless they can prove their eligibility to vote, in which case they will not receive ballots.”
Valade mentioned that Oregon has promptly updated the voter rolls and required the Department of Transportation to take immediate action to prevent non-citizens from participating in voting. Currently, only two non-citizens erroneously registered as voters have records of voting, with it remaining unclear if they had citizenship at the time of voting.
“I believe the DMV is rectifying mistakes in the voter registration process and improving their workflow to prevent similar issues from occurring again,” Valade stated. “The automatic voter registration system ensures that many eligible Oregon voters can participate in elections, which is crucial for upholding the participatory rights in the democratic system and brings significant benefits.”
Amy Joyce, an official from the Department of Transportation, informed The Oregonian that authorities are checking for any other individuals mistakenly registered as legal voters and will take measures to prevent these individuals from participating in voting.
Both federal and Oregon state laws prohibit non-US citizens from participating in any election voting.