Following previous investigations that showed a difference in the program had placed noncitizens on the voter rolls, Oregon’s “motor voting” system recently discovered that it had registered yet more voters who had already lied to show eligibility, totaling more than 1,500.  ,
Also Democrat Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, who in the past fought the system, demanded an independent audit alongside Democrat Governor. Tina Kotek, according to a media release. The Oregon DMV’s automatic voter registration program would be halted until a more comprehensive review was completed, the governor said on Monday.
When Oregonians 16 and older apply for a force, driver’s license, or ID with documents that prove American citizen, the DMV sends their details to the secretary of state’s office, which registers them to vote through the “motor voting” system.
However, the DMV’s” after action review” released yesterday identified three main flaws: a tech problem, DMV staff recording American passports and birth certificates, and the system treating residents of the American Samoa territory as citizens since 2016.  ,
More than 1,500 potential noncitizens were registered to vote in the state as a result. According to a release from Monday, the state is unsure of their citizenship status but discovered they did not present the necessary paperwork when registering at the DMV.
” The DMV’s after action report raises serious concerns about this important part of our voter registration system”, Griffin-Valade said in the release. Still, she claimed that” these new errors will not impact the 2024 election”.
The secretary told the Oregon Elections Division to hire someone to fill an oversight position for the state’s “motor voter” system, implement a process for “regular data checks”, and update rules regarding the “motor votor” system. Meanwhile, Kotek ordered an audit from an “independent, external third party vendor”, pausing automatic voter registration until the DMV finishes its review.  ,
On December 1st, the DMV will finish reviewing more than 130, 000 susceptible voter registrations. These records have already been manually reviewed, but another review is seeking them “without supporting documents,” so that registered voters can be prompted to provide necessary proof of citizenship.  ,
The state’s voter rolls were initially prompted by questions from the left-wing Institute for Responsive Government. More than 300 noncitizens registered to vote last month were initially discovered by Griffin-Valade. The secretary initially claimed she was” confident” the DMV would handle the situation and would n’t allow this to happen again.
However, a second examination revealed even more likely ineligible voters, with a total of more than 1,200 at the time. After this discovery, Kotek ordered the DMV to conduct a review. When the department released the results today, it discovered an additional 300 likely ineligible voters on the rolls. County clerks were recently instructed by the governor to inactivate these additional registrations.  ,
The Oregon Motor Voter program needs to be immediately and externally audited, and there must be a pause to data transmission between the Oregon DMV and SOS, Kotek said in a release.
However, the DMV is only looking into registrations since Jan. 1, 2021 because, according to its report, it says, the errors cannot have occurred before then.  ,
Republican Christine Drazan, who lost Oregon’s 2022 governor race by less than 4 percent, said the “agency refuses to audit all records from the start of the program” in 2016. She called for a” complete audit”.
Both Kotek and Griffin-Valade claim the problems will” not impact” November’s election.
For more election news and updates, visit , electionbriefing.com.
The staff writer for election integrity is Logan Washburn. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan was born and raised in rural Michigan, but he now resides in Central Oregon.