Oregon’s Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade is facing backlash after her office registered 1,259 possible noncitizens to vote. Despite this major error, Griffin-Valade maintains that noncitizen voting is “exceedingly rare,” sparking controversy.
The problem was initially discovered when her office identified over 300 noncitizens who were incorrectly added to the voter rolls through Oregon’s “motor voter” program. The system, which automatically registers individuals when they apply for or renew driver’s licenses, made additional errors by registering more than 900 more noncitizens, bringing the total to 1,259. Further adding to the seriousness, nine of these individuals had already voted.
Griffin-Valade took steps to deactivate the registrations and assured that these individuals would not receive ballots for the upcoming 2024 election. However, the registered noncitizens are still allowed to re-register if they can provide proof of citizenship before the election.
The investigation revealed that the errors occurred due to DMV staff incorrectly documenting foreign passports and birth certificates as U.S. documents. The system automatically registered noncitizens when those forms of identification were misfiled as valid U.S. credentials.
While Griffin-Valade insists noncitizen voting remains rare, critics argue that this case highlights the vulnerability of Oregon’s voter registration system. Many believe more should be done to safeguard against future errors that could compromise the integrity of elections.
