County election officials around Oregon said Monday they鈥檇 removed non-U.S. citizens from their voter rolls, after revelations last week that the state had mistakenly registered at least 306 noncitizens since 2021.
Meanwhile, fallout over the discovery continued to reverberate in Oregon politics, with Republicans saying they鈥檝e argued for years that the state鈥檚 election laws were too lax, and arguing the errors proved them right.
鈥淭his is a deeply troubling development, and I fear it could be just the tip of the iceberg,鈥� Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, wrote in a Monday letter urging Gov. Tina Kotek to enact stricter policies for maintaining voter rolls. 鈥淚f such errors are occurring, it calls into question the accuracy of our voter rolls and the security of our elections. The integrity of the entire system could be at risk if we fail to act now to prevent further issues.鈥�
House Minority Leader Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, called for a hearing on the matter when lawmakers convene in Salem next week for interim committee meetings.
鈥淓xplain exactly what this is,鈥� Helfrich said Monday, when asked what he wanted to achieve with a hearing. 鈥淲e need to have answers to what鈥檚 going on and be able to get this resolved because we have 50 days left before the election.鈥�
Elected Democrats have also registered concern at the news 鈥� for a variety of reasons.
U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a first-term lawmaker from Tigard who is in a competitive race for reelection, called the errant registrations 鈥渢otal malpractice鈥� by the state鈥檚 Driver and Motor Vehicles division, which took responsibility last week for what it characterized as clerical errors that led to improper registrations.
State Rep. Janelle Bynum, vying for Congress in one of the country鈥檚 most tightly divided districts, last week called on the Oregon Department of Justice to investigate the matter.
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, would not say Monday whether she would launch an investigation, saying in a statement that the Secretary of State would have to decide whether to refer the matter to her office. Kotek鈥檚 office did not say whether the governor would support an inquiry.
The Secretary of State鈥檚 office didn鈥檛 provide a breakdown of where people mistakenly registered to vote live, but county clerks in some places issued statements Monday signaling they鈥檇 removed noncitizens from their active voter rolls.
Klamath County said it had been alerted to one such person. Lane County said it had found 11. Clackamas County: 18. Deschutes County: 12.
In Multnomah County, the state鈥檚 most populous, 58 people had been removed from voter rolls, according to Elections Director Tim Scott. In Washington County, Elections Manager Dan Forester said state elections officials sent 95 names, and that his office could not verify citizenship for 94 of them. 鈥淭he Elections Division is reaching out to gather more information on their citizenship status,鈥� Forester said.
None of those identified in any of the six counties had voted, officials said.
Oregon鈥檚 woes are the result of the intersection of two laws. In 2016, the state launched a pioneering 鈥渕otor voter鈥� law that automatically registers people to vote when they receive or renew a driver鈥檚 license.
Then, in 2019 鈥� after over the issue 鈥� Oregon Democrats opted to allow noncitizens to receive driver鈥檚 licenses, passing the policy on a near-party-line vote. But people who cannot offer proof of citizenship while applying for a license are not supposed to be registered to vote.
The DMV said Friday an audit of registrations since noncitizen licenses began being issued in 2021 turned up 306 people who鈥檇 been registered to vote improperly 鈥� two of whom have voted. The agency said it was still reviewing records, with more than 100 people working over the weekend, and that the numbers might grow. Oregon registered voters.
It鈥檚 illegal for noncitizens to vote in state or federal elections, and election officials emphasized last week that none of those mistakenly registered had asked to be added to voter lists. The state is looking into whether the two people found to have voted first obtained U.S. citizenship before doing so.
鈥淭hese folks were registered by no fault of their own, they didn鈥檛 do anything wrong,鈥� Molly Woon, the state鈥檚 election director, told reporters Friday. 鈥淭hat will weigh heavily in any decisions that are made.鈥�
Indeed, the prospect that noncitizens who had not asked to receive a ballot could be prosecuted for voting posed a problem for some.
鈥淢istakes like this not only compromise the integrity and trust in our voting system, but they also place innocent individuals in jeopardy, potentially affecting their legal pathways to U.S. citizenship,鈥� state Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, on the social media platform X on Saturday. 鈥淚 share the concerns of our community and stand committed to ensuring that our voter registration process is accurate, secure and fair for everyone involved.鈥�
The DMV accidentally registered around 300 non-U.S. citizens to vote. This could seriously impact their path to legal residency & citizenship, as voting without being a citizen can disqualify them. We must ensure these mistakes don't happen again. Here is my full statement:
— Ricki Ruiz (@RickiRuizOR)
State officials stressed last week that the registration errors would not impact this year鈥檚 election and that no noncitizen would receive a ballot. But that was not enough to keep the issue out of the national limelight, at a time Republicans have been playing up the threat of widespread voting by noncitizens.
Frank LaRose, the Republican secretary of state of Ohio who from the state鈥檚 rolls, over the weekend that Oregon鈥檚 situation served as a cautionary tale.
鈥淭his is why we have resisted so-called automatic voter registration in Ohio,鈥� LaRose told the outlet. 鈥淲e have multiple really convenient ways to register in Ohio, but there are people who should not be registered鈥︹�� While instances of noncitizens being registered to vote have cropped up in states around the country, there is no evidence that they have voted in massive numbers.
Even so, former President Donald Trump and top national Republicans have pressed the issue all year. Congressional Republicans are currently considering making a spending bill to avert a government shutdown contingent on the that would require voters to provide proof of citizenship.
