BEND, OR -- County Clerks across Oregon are working to address the around 300 voters registered in error by the state’s Motor Voter program.
Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison is pleased with what he says was a quick response by the Secretary of State’s office after the mistake was discovered late last week, "The state Elections Division notified all 36 counties of any voters that were registered in error." He says, "The error was identified, the voters were identified, action has been taken. The state Elections Division sent out some information on how they wanted us to handle these voters and to notify these voters."
Dennison says his office identified 12 such people, who have never cast a ballot, "They went into the DMV, their information was passed along to the Secretary of State’s office in error and then, in turn, passed along to the counties - to us - where we activated these voters. But the voters didn’t do anything else after that." He tells KBND News, "They didn’t fill out a new registration card, they didn’t check that box to say 'I am a citizen' on a registration card or anything else. So, these people went into the DMV and, through no fault of their own, were inadvertently registered to vote." The state has admitted two out of the 300 did vote.
Dennison says the erroneous registrations have been removed from the rolls, "They will not receive a ballot unless they indicate to use that they are in fact citizens and eligible to vote." He adds more investigation is necessary, "Some of these voters may have gained citizenship between the time the error took place and now. So, having that outreach to these people is important and that’s what’s happening."
Crook County Clerk Cheryl Seely tells KBND News none of the illegal registrations have, so far, been found in her rolls. But the Secretary of State's Office has said more may be uncovered in the next few days. Seely says she's urged state elections officials to move quickly to solidify the list because military and overseas ballots must be mailed this Friday.
Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day, "It reminds folks that, ‘hey, check your information, and is your ballot going to be mailed to the correct address?’ and things like that," says Dennison. "If you have an Oregon Drivers License or ID, you can do that online. With folks having phones in their hands, they do it there; they can do it from a PC. If you don’t have access to a computer, all you need to do is fill out a paper registration form." The deadline for legal voters to register or update their registration before the November election is October 15.
