Oregon mistakenly registered nearly 1,260 possible noncitizens to vote, DMV admits
Oregon officials admitted an error with the state's automatic voter enrollment problem was larger than previously thought, registering 1,259 possible noncitizens since 2021.
Ten of the mistakenly enrolled individuals went on to cast a ballot, according to Oregon's Secretary of State, although at least one became a citizen before voting.
The enrollment error was first unearthed earlier this month, with officials admitting to wrongly registering around 300 voters through an Oregon DMV program that registers legal citizens when they obtain a driver's license or state ID.
But this week, the DMV and Secretary of State's office said a complete review showed 1,259 people who didn't provide proof of U.S. citizenship were added to Oregon's voter rolls, a number four times the previously reported figure.
Elections officials stressed that the individuals will not receive a ballot for the 2024 election but will be given the chance to re-register in time for the election if they are eligible.
"Noncitizen voting remains exceedingly rare in Oregon and around the country," Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade said in a statement Monday. "We can continue to be proud that automatic voter registration is just one of the ways we ensure eligible Oregonians have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote."
Officials said the error began in 2021, when a state law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses took effect. The DMV audit found staff may have accidentally selected "U.S. passport" when presented with a foreign passport, or "U.S. birth certificate" when given a foreign document, triggering voter enrollment.
The DMV said its drop-down menu has now been rearranged so "U.S. passport" is no longer the first, default option. Staff must also enter the state and county for all U.S. birth certificates and respond to a prompt when passport information is entered confirming that the documentation is accurate.
"We identified a rare but important anomaly that we have now corrected," Amy Joyce, DMV administrator, said in a press release. "We regret this situation occurred, but we are relieved that our swift action allowed DMV and the Secretary of State to correct the issue before the coming election."
About half of all states, as well as Washington, D.C., have implemented automatic voter registration, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
But there have been numerous allegations of improper enrollment in states without automatic registration too.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced in August that officials have purged 1.1 million ineligible names from the voter rolls since the 2020 presidential election. Ohio's Secretary of State referred 138 noncitizens believed to have voted in previous elections to the state's attorney general for possible criminal charges. And a conservative watchdog group is suing Arizona's Maricopa County for allegedly failing to remove more than 35,000 people who did not provide proof of citizenship.
Oregon's error was uncovered after an inquiry from the Institute for Responsive Government, a nonprofit that advocates for government transparency and easier voter registration.
Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this story.