Initial DMV release of its After Action Report, which identified additional errors in its processes resulted in 302 individuals being registered to vote who did not provide proof of their eligibility. In response, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade directed county elections officials to inactivate all 302 voter registrations.

Secretary Griffin-Valade also joined Governor Tina Kotek calling for an independent, external audit of the Motor Votor system.

Secretary Griffin-Valade stated, “The DMV’s After Action Report raises serious concerns about this important part of our voter registration system. The first step in restoring the public’s trust in Motor Voter is a transparent review by a neutral third party operating under strict government auditing standards.”

The investigation by DMV increased the number to 1,259 in September. Two days after the election DMV says they have found 56 more non-citizens who were added to the voter rolls making the total 1,617 since the error was discovered.

According to the After Action Report:

The system was configured to use a drop-down menu of document choices, where the default choices included U.S. passport (as opposed to any other kind of passport) and U.S. birth certificate (as opposed to any other kind of birth certificate). This configuration did not separate documents that prove U.S. citizenship from those that do not and did not take into proper account the need to minimize potential for human error when accurate input for OMV purposes should have been paramount. Front-line staff were not adequately trained on the importance of accuracy in this part of a transaction and why it was critical for the reliability of OMV to take the time to get it right every time.

Secretary Griffin-Valade instructed the Oregon Elections Division to take steps to increase its oversight of the Motor Voter system. DMV hired a new Motor Voter oversight position to ensure automatic voter registration policies and procedures are reviewed, updated and followed with regular data checks. Additionally, she directed corrective action to be taken to protect the integrity of the 2024 election. County clerks were to inactivate all ineligible voter registrations and issue “due process” letters providing them with the opportunity to reregister if they can confirm their eligibility. In a second layer of security, ensure that any ballots returned from this group are not counted without first verifying eligibility to ensure the error does not impact the 2024 election.

Do we know these individuals’ citizenship status?
No. We simply know that they did not present the necessary documentation supporting their eligibility when they interacted with the DMV.

Did any of these individuals vote? And if so, what will be done with them?
The Oregon Elections Division will work with the 36 county election officers to determine if there are any individuals with a vote history and follow the same process used with the previous data sent over by the DMV in September.

Counties will be instructed to flag these ballots in the election management system. If any ballots are returned, they will be removed from the vote tallying process. The voter will be given an opportunity to demonstrate that they are eligible, but if that doesn’t happen the votes will not be counted.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

“Both the Secretary of State’s office and the Department of Motor Vehicles assured voters there were no more issues to be found, but again they were wrong. They also assured voters nothing would impact the 2024 election; how are voters to be sure they are not wrong about that also?” said Representative Anna Scharf (R-Amity). “What is clear is that there are major flaws in the Motor Voter system. Yes, we should have an independent audit, but there should also be an investigation performed into possible violations of the law”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2024-11-11 12:42:59

Last Update: 2024-11-11 17:28:30