A clerical mistake made at a state DMV caused more than 1,000 non-citizens to be registered as voters.
During a two-week investigation, an Oregon DMV reportedly looked at over a million documents dating back to 2021 only to discover 1,259 people were registered to vote by mistake.
The enormous error comes a result of two laws at work: the Driver Licenses for All act, which authorizes the DMV to issue drivers licenses to non-citizens, and the Motor Voter Act - which allows American citizens to register to vote when issued a drivers license.
Drivers who used a non-American birth certificate or passport to obtain or renew their license were accidentally recorded as using an American document as that was the default setting, state officials said.
Following the potentially catastrophic mistake, the secretary of states office announced that only nine people, or less, wrongfully cast a ballot after being registered.
During a two-week investigation, an Oregon DMV reportedly looked at over a million documents dating back to 2021 only to discover 1,259 people were registered to vote by mistake
The enormous error comes a result of two laws at work: the Driver Licenses for All act, which authorizes the DMV to issue drivers licenses to non-citizens, and the Motor Voter Act - which allows American citizens to register to vote when issued a drivers license
The secretary of state has since ordered the inactivation of another 953 voter registrations in addition to 306 voters rendered inactive on September 13, as a result of the same error.
Amy Joyce, an administrator at the Oregon DMV, said: We have reordered that drop-down menu so that the U.S. passport isnt the default selection.
Every indication is that this is really a clerical error, and a mistake, a regrettable mistake, she added.
Another DMV employee, Chris Crabb, a public information officer, said the incorrect registration was more common among passports than with birth certificates.
No foul play has been linked to the mistake although the DMV stated that the number of wrongfully registered voters could increase following the continued investigation.
State Republicans have since issued a public outcry over the mistake, calling for safe and secure elections.
I dont think it is a Republican issue or a Democrat issue, this should be an issue that our election system is safe and secure, Rep. Jeff Helfrich told KATU2.
We do not know how deep this issue goes. We have had elections that have been decided by 84 votes or less. We have had elections in primaries that have been decided by a coin toss - every vote does matter. Every vote does count, Helfrich added.
The secretary of state has since ordered the inactivation of another 953 voter registrations in addition to 306 voters rendered inactive on September 13, as a result of the same error
No foul play has been linked to the mistake although the DMV stated that the number of wrongfully registered voters could increase following the continued investigation
Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham said: The only reason we know about the DMV registering 1,259 noncitizens to vote is because a national think tank started asking questions. This tells me that there’s probably much larger, systematic issues at play.
The DMV first learned of its mistake following an unprompted request from the Institute for Responsive Government on July 29, asking for an update on automatic voter registration.
Following the incident, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek ordered the DMV to install several preventative measures to ensure this mistake does not happen again.
The DMV will now provide updated training for all relevant staff, compile an after-action report within two weeks to find out how the errors occurred and document what theyve done to correct the issue, do a data integrity review that will be overseen by a panel of third-party data experts and establish a data quality control calendar in coordination with the secretary of state.
While I appreciate Governor Kotek’s directive to the DMV to take proactive steps to avoid further errors with the state’s motor voter program, it’s not enough, Bonham added.
The people in this 1,259 member group will not receive a ballot for the 2024 election but will be given the opportunity to re-register, if eligible.