Oregon Republicans ask governor to protect voter rolls after DMV registered noncitizens

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Oregon on Monday asked Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek to ensure the integrity of the state’s voter rolls following reports that some 300 noncitizens have been mistakenly registered as voters since 2021.

The mistake occurred in part because Oregon has allowed noncitizens to obtain driver’s licenses since 2019, and the state’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services automatically registers most people to vote when they obtain a license or ID. An initial analysis by the Oregon Department of Transportation, which oversees the DMV, found that 306 noncitizens were registered to vote in what officials described as a “data entry issue” that happened when people applied for driver’s licenses. Of those, two voted in elections since 2021.

State and federal laws prohibit noncitizens from voting in national and local elections. Noncitizens include people who are in the country with legal status — such as green-card holders and temporary workers — and those without legal status.

In a letter emailed to Kotek’s office on Monday, Oregon Senate Republican Minority Leader Daniel Bonham asked her to consider implementing measures similar to those outlined in an executive order issued last month by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The Republican governor directed state officials to certify the accuracy of voter lists by removing those who moved, died, or were unable to verify their U.S. citizenship.

“These measures are vital to enhancing public trust in the electoral process and ensuring that elections are fair, transparent, and secure,” Bonham wrote.

Kotek’s office did not immediately provide a comment.

The DMV is checking for additional errors and will likely find more cases of registering noncitizens to vote, spokesperson Chris Crabb said.

Lane County, home to the city of Eugene and the University of Oregon, said its elections office was notified Friday that the DMV had mistakenly marked 11 noncitizens as eligible to vote in the county. After an audit, officials confirmed that none had returned a ballot. They were removed from the voter rolls and will no longer receive ballots, the county said in a Facebook post.

The three counties that include Portland shared similar statements.

Clackamas County was notified Friday that the issue affected 18 people in the county, elections clerk Catherine McMullen said in an email, adding that none of them had ever cast a ballot. The county elections office inactivated their voter registration, and they won’t receive ballots “unless they take action to confirm that they are now citizens of the United States,” she said.

Multnomah County, the state’s most populous, removed 58 people from the voter rolls, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported, citing county elections director Tim Scott. Neighboring Washington County received 95 names from state officials and could not verify citizenship for 94 of them, county elections manager Dan Forester said. None of those identified had voted, officials said.

In a statement Friday, DMV Administrator Amy Joyce said the finding “does not mean those individuals were not U.S. citizens at the time they voted – just that they failed to provide proof of citizenship to DMV.” The Secretary of State’s office is working to determine that, she said.

Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade also said Friday in a statement that the 306 people involved “will be notified by mail that they will not receive a ballot unless they demonstrate that they are eligible to vote.”

“While this error is regrettable, the secretary and the Elections Division stand by automatic voter registration and its many benefits,” she said, adding that her office learned of the problem late Thursday.

More than 3 million people are registered to vote in Oregon, meaning 300 or so who were mistakenly registered would represent a tiny fraction of potential voters.

The DMV’s lapses were first reported by Willamette Week.