PORTLAND, Ore. — On Monday, officials in Oregon announced that another 302 individuals have been removed from the state’s voter registration lists after confirming they failed to provide proof of citizenship when registering. This development adds to the earlier count of 1,259 affected registrations, raising the total number of improper voter registrations due to clerical errors at the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to 1,561. This announcement coincided with the DMV releasing a report detailing the errors, which had initially been recognized by authorities last month.
The underlying issue arose primarily from a law enacted in 2019 that allowed certain residents who are not citizens to obtain driver’s licenses. Additionally, Oregon’s “Motor Voter” law, implemented in 2016, automatically registers most individuals to vote when they apply for a driver’s license or identification card.
DMV Administrator Amy Joyce expressed regret, stating, “Two weeks ago, we believed we had all of the information to project confidence in our understanding and review of all records at risk of error. We have since learned this confidence was misplaced based on new information outlined in this announcement and after-action report, and for this, we are sorry. The DMV will adhere to the Governor’s directives and is committed to ongoing learning, corrective measures, transparency, and accountability.”
In response to these developments, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has ordered the DMV to suspend automatic voter registration. She has also requested an independent audit of the state’s Motor Voter system, collaborating with Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade in a joint statement.
Griffin-Valade emphasized the importance of transparency, stating, “The first step in restoring the public’s trust in the Oregon Motor Voter system is a transparent review by a neutral third party operating under strict government auditing standards.” Despite the setback, she expressed confidence that these errors will not affect the upcoming November elections.
Further to this, Griffin-Valade has instructed her office’s elections division to promptly establish a new oversight role for the Motor Voter program. Moreover, she has called for the implementation of a documented process for conducting regular data checks with the DMV while updating the administrative rules related to the Motor Voter system.
Among the 302 additional cases identified, 178 were the result of individuals from American Samoa being mistakenly classified as U.S. citizens. According to federal law, individuals from American Samoa are classified as U.S. nationals, which does not grant them the same voting rights as citizens. The remaining 123 cases were linked to previously noted clerical errors but had been overlooked during earlier reviews due to a newly found software problem. Additionally, one case was identified through the DMV’s enhanced quality control measures.
The Secretary of State’s office reported that efforts are underway to verify if any of the 302 individuals voted while improperly registered.
The DMV’s report outlined corrective actions taken in response to these errors, which include multiple updates to the computer system used for entering voter information, implementing daily manual quality checks, and providing staff training.
Of the 1,259 individuals previously determined to be possibly ineligible, it was found that ten had voted after being incorrectly registered. However, at least five of those individuals were later confirmed to be citizens at the time they cast their votes. This group of voters constitutes a minuscule percentage of Oregon’s total 3 million registered voters.
