More than 300 non-citizens were mistakenly registered to vote in Oregon over the past three years due to errors by the state’s Driver and Motor Vehicles (DMV) services. The issue arose after Oregon passed a bill allowing individuals to obtain driver’s licenses without needing to prove US citizenship. Oregon’s elections are conducted via mail-in ballots.
According to Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, the error occurred when DMV staff mistakenly selected “US passport” or “US birth certificate” instead of foreign equivalents while entering documentation data for individuals applying for driver’s licenses. This error led to non-citizens being added to the voter registration system.
Griffin-Valade noted that of the more than 300 improperly registered individuals, only two are believed to have actually cast ballots. It remains unclear whether those individuals were citizens at the time of voting. Once the error was identified on Thursday, the affected individuals were notified by mail that they would not receive ballots unless they are eligible voters, according to a report by KGW8.
“Safeguarding the integrity of our elections is my top priority,” said Griffin-Valade. “When my office was made aware of this error, we moved quickly to update the voter rolls. I am also personally calling on the DMV to take immediate action to improve its processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek reassured the public that the error “will not impact the 2024 election in any way,” and added that the DMV was taking “urgent corrective action” to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
Hellbound and Down 