SALEM, OR — Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade ordered updates to 0.01% of voter registrations today after the DMV determined in an internal audit that they sent a small number of inaccurate customer records to the Elections Division.
The Secretary of State’s Office was made aware of the issue late on September 12 and acted within 24 hours. Residents impacted by this issue were noncitizens at the time they were erroneously registered. They will be notified by mail that they will not receive a ballot unless they demonstrate that they are eligible to vote.
Only 2 individuals in this universe have a voting history. Their citizenship status at the time they voted is unknown. The Secretary of State will do additional due diligence in these cases.
The error occurred at the DMV when staff entered information into their system. DMV customers are required to present an identity document when they request a new driver’s license or ID. The error occurred when DMV staff entered information about the type of identity document provided. One example is entering “U.S. Passport” when the document was actually a foreign passport. The other example would be entering “U.S. Birth Certificate” when the document was actually a foreign birth certificate. When such an error occurred, the customer’s information was then transmitted to the state’s voter registration system. No individual took action to register inappropriately.
The DMV’s initial review of the error shows that it impacted 0.01% of voter registrations in the state of Oregon. The DMV is working around the clock to ensure that any additional records with the error are identified and corrected.
While this error is regrettable, the Secretary and the Elections Division stand by automatic voter registration and its many benefits. For the vast majority of eligible Oregonians who were registered through Oregon Motor Voter, this has increased access to our democracy. Oregon elections officials are firmly committed to ensuring eligible voters have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote.
“Safeguarding the integrity of our elections is my top priority,” said Secretary Griffin-Valade. “When my office was made aware of this error, we moved quickly to update the voter rolls. I am also personally calling on the DMV to take immediate action to improve its processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“Automatic voter registration has been hugely beneficial for thousands of eligible Oregon voters to ensure access to our democracy,” said Secretary Griffin-Valade. “I’m confident the DMV is rectifying this error and improving their process, so it doesn’t happen again.”
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