The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) recently conducted an audit that revealed a significant error in voter registration. More than 1,200 non-citizens were mistakenly registered to vote in the state.
The audit was prompted by concerns raised about the automatic voter registration system in Oregon, which was implemented in 2016. Under this system, any individual who applies for or renews a driver’s license or state ID is automatically registered to vote unless they opt out.
The audit found that of the over 1 million people who were registered to vote through the DMV system between January 2016 and August 2020, 1,204 were individuals who did not have proof of U.S. citizenship. State law requires individuals to be U.S. citizens in order to register to vote.
The Oregon Secretary of State’s office has stated that they are working with the DMV to correct the error and ensure that only eligible voters are on the voter rolls. They have also emphasized that the mistake does not appear to have been intentional or malicious.
The Secretary of State’s office has also reached out to the individuals who were mistakenly registered to vote to inform them of the error and clarify the requirements for voter registration.
Moving forward, the DMV and the Secretary of State’s office are working to implement new measures to prevent similar errors in the future. This includes providing additional training for DMV employees and developing new protocols to verify the citizenship status of individuals before registering them to vote.
Overall, while the audit revealed a significant oversight in voter registration, steps are being taken to rectify the situation and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
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