BEND, OR -- There was some voter fraud in Oregon during the last election cycle, but Deschutes County Clerk, Nancy Blankenship, says they seem to be people who voted in more than one state, not voters who got past security. "I think Oregon does a really good job in monitoring and has been very proactive in monitoring our data, in monitoring our voter registration, and those moving between states, and we try and be proactive at that."
Blankenship is investigating whether any of the fraudulent votes was cast in Deschutes County, but believes the systems in place work. "I think Oregonians should be very comfortable with the work that the election community does to manage and safeguard the election, the voter registration database, and our elections in general. We take a great deal of care, so there are all these different levels of security that are in place to ensure that only those who should be voting, are voting."
The Elections Division has identified 46 votes that appear to be fraudulent, and Blankenship says voter fraud should never be overlooked, so even though that few of ballots is negligible to the individual contests, Oregon is working with other states to investigate. "In the last few years, the state of Oregon has been part of a group that works together to share information. And so, in the last few years, we've been able to identify those who have, apparently, may have voted in two states. Those are the things that they're pursuing."
According to Blankenship, Oregon has a 'Trust, but Verify' policy when it comes to voters - they believe the information provided on the registration, and have stringent security measures in place that each ballot must pass in order to be counted.
Intentionally voting more than once per election is a felony, and punishable by up to five years in prison and a $125,000 fine.
