{"id":2341926,"date":"2024-09-16T15:53:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T19:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/or-official-defends-law-registering-hundreds-of-aliens-to-vote\/"},"modified":"2024-09-16T15:58:46","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T19:58:46","slug":"or-official-defends-law-registering-hundreds-of-aliens-to-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/or-official-defends-law-registering-hundreds-of-aliens-to-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"OR Official Defends Law Registering Hundreds Of Aliens To Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2For-official-defends-law-registering-hundreds-of-aliens-to-vote%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2341926&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade\u200b has defended\u2063 the state&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/measure-impacting-auto-voter-registration-raises-non-citizen-registration-concerns\/\" title=\"Auto voter registration measure raises concerns about non-citizen registration\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-republican-state-senators-propose-bills-to-end-no-excuse-mail-voting-automatic-registration\/\" title=\"Georgia Republican State Senators Propose Bills to End No-excuse Mail Voting, Automatic Registration\">automatic voter registration<\/a> program<\/a>,\u200d known as the &#8220;motor voter&#8221; law, despite\u200c the recent \u200ddiscovery that it led to the registration of 306 noncitizens. Griffin-Valade\u2062 emphasized the law&#8217;s benefits for eligible voters and called for the Oregon DMV to enhance its processes to prevent\u2064 similar issues in the future. The errors\u200b were identified on September 12, 2023, \u200dand \u2064were \u200dattributed to mistakes made by DMV \u2064staff, who incorrectly recorded foreign identification documents as those\u2064 issued\u200d by U.S. authorities. These errors constitute a \u2062minuscule 0.01%\u200b of all registered \u200bvoters in the state. \u200bGriffin-Valade\u2019s office \u2062acknowledged the mistake but reiterated support for the motor voter program, asserting that they are\u200b committed \u200dto ensuring \u2063proper\u200c voter registration \u200cas they approach \u200bthe 2024 elections.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, a Democrat, defended the state&rsquo;s &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/sos.oregon.gov\/voting\/Pages\/motor-voter-faq.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">motor voter<\/a>&rdquo; law after it allowed the state to register hundreds of noncitizens to vote.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Automatic voter registration has been hugely beneficial for thousands of eligible Oregon voters to ensure access to our democracy,&rdquo; Griffin-Valade <a href=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/ORSOS\/bulletins\/3b59de1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> in a press release. &ldquo;I am also personally calling on the DMV to take immediate action to improve its processes to ensure this doesn&rsquo;t happen again.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Griffin-Valade&rsquo;s office said in the press release that it found out about this issue on Sept. 12. Communications Director Laura Kerns told The Federalist these errors led to 306 improper registrations, and the secretary&rsquo;s office does not have the number of improperly registered voters affiliated with each political party. The Associated Press <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/oregon-dmv-noncitizens-voter-registration-183e30de6d1c454370e606245ba6fde2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> the state has registered these residents since 2021.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When The Federalist asked other questions, like whether this would affect November&rsquo;s election and if there could be more noncitizens on Oregon&rsquo;s voter rolls, Kerns pointed to the press release.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin-Valade&rsquo;s office said in the release that while the &ldquo;error is regrettable,&rdquo; the secretary supports the Oregon Motor Voter program for enabling &ldquo;access to our democracy.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Under this program, Oregon residents older than 16 who apply for a state permit, driver&rsquo;s license, or ID and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-rules-faux-florida-whistleblower-rebekah-jones-isnt-qualified-to-run-for-office-in-florida\/\" title=\"Judge Rules Faux Florida-Whistleblower Rebekah Jones Isn&#039;t Qualified to Run for Office in Florida\">provide documents proving<\/a> U.S. citizenship are automatically registered to vote, according to a statement provided to The Federalist from Oregon DMV Administrator Amy Joyce. Oregon&rsquo;s automatic voter registration includes a &ldquo;two-step review&rdquo; process to verify identity and residence to confirm voting eligibility.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;While proactively analyzing this system in advance of the 2024 election, DMV identified possible, though unlikely, causes for error,&rdquo; Joyce said in the statement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Workers at the Oregon DMV made errors recording the forms of identification provided, leading the system to automatically register noncitizens to vote. One possible cause was DMV staff recording foreign passports as U.S. passports, and another was staff recording foreign birth certificates as U.S. birth certificates.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The DMV analyzed the passport-based registrations as they were &ldquo;subject to the biggest risk for error,&rdquo; after which it found the incorrect registrations composed 0.01 percent of total registered voters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;Because having a U.S. version of either of those documents means a person is a citizen, the system included them in the file DMV sent to the Elections Division for the next step in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-puts-susan-rice-in-charge-of-effort-to-expand-vote-by-mail\/\" title=\"Biden Puts Susan Rice in Charge of Effort to Expand Vote by Mail\">voter registration process<\/a>,&rdquo; Joyce said in the statement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Griffin-Valade&rsquo;s office said in its press release that the registrants at issue &ldquo;were noncitizens at the time they were erroneously registered.&rdquo; Her office also said it will notify the noncitizens by mail that they &ldquo;will not receive a ballot&rdquo; unless they prove they are eligible to vote.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Federal law <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/crt\/national-voter-registration-act-1993-nvra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">requires<\/a> states to ask people to certify their citizenship and eligibility before registering them to vote. It is a federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/1015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">crime<\/a> to knowingly lie about one&rsquo;s noncitizen status to register to vote in federal, state, or local elections.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The secretary&rsquo;s office claimed just two of these individuals had voted, and &ldquo;their citizenship status at the time they voted is unknown.&rdquo; Joyce said in her statement that they &ldquo;failed to provide proof of citizenship to DMV.&rdquo; Noncitizen voting in federal elections is a federal <a href=\"https:\/\/uscode.house.gov\/view.xhtml?req=(title:18%20section:611%20edition:prelim)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">crime<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>To prevent further errors, the Oregon DMV has added a prompt to the data entry screen to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/audit-finds-louisiana-community-colleges-statements-were-off-by-600k\/\" title=\"Louisiana community college&#039;s financial statements were inaccurate by 0k, according to audit\">ensure proper recording<\/a> of citizenship information, according to Joyce. It has also adopted &ldquo;daily auditing of all transactions&rdquo; before sending registrations to the secretary&rsquo;s office for processing.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Efforts to verify the birth certificate based registrations remain ongoing and will likely take up to two weeks to complete,&rdquo; Joyce said in the statement. &ldquo;This analysis will be completed well before ballots are sent in Oregon.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo&#8217;s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, a Democrat, stood by the state&#8217;s &#8220;motor voter&#8221; law after it resulted in the registration of hundreds of noncitizens to vote. In a press release, she stated, &#8220;Automatic voter registration has greatly benefited thousands of eligible voters in Oregon by ensuring their access to our democracy.&#8221; She also urged the DMV to take immediate steps to improve its processes and prevent similar issues from occurring in the future. <\/p>\n<p>Griffin-Valade&#8217;s office revealed that they became aware of this problem on September 12. Communications Director Laura Kerns informed The Federalist that these mistakes led to 306 incorrect registrations; however, they do not have data on how many improperly registered voters belong to each political party. According to reports from the Associated Press, these residents have been registered since 2021.<\/p>\n<p>When asked if this situation would impact November&#8217;s election or if there could be more noncitizens on Oregon\u2019s voter rolls, Kerns referred back to the press release. The statement acknowledged that while the error is unfortunate, Griffin-Valade continues to support the Oregon Motor Voter program for promoting access to democracy.<\/p>\n<p>Under this program, residents over 16 who apply for a state permit or ID and provide proof of U.S. citizenship are automatically registered to vote. Oregon DMV Administrator Amy Joyce explained that there is a &#8220;two-step review&#8221; process in place for verifying identity and residency before confirming voting eligibility.<\/p>\n<p>Joyce noted that during an analysis ahead of the 2024 election, DMV identified potential causes for errors\u2014though unlikely\u2014including staff mistakenly recording foreign passports as U.S. passports and foreign birth certificates as U.S. birth certificates when processing identification forms at DMV offices.<\/p>\n<p>The DMV found that incorrect registrations made up only 0.01 percent of total registered voters after reviewing passport-based registrations due to their higher risk for errors. Joyce clarified that having a U.S.-issued version of either document indicates citizenship; thus those individuals were included in files sent by DMV for further processing with Elections Division.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin-Valade\u2019s office confirmed in its release that those affected were noncitizens at the time they were incorrectly registered and stated they would notify these individuals via mail informing them they \u201cwill not receive a ballot\u201d unless they can prove their eligibility.<\/p>\n<p>Federal law mandates states verify citizenship before registering individuals to vote; knowingly misrepresenting one\u2019s status as a citizen is illegal when registering for any elections at federal or state levels.<\/p>\n<p>The secretary&#8217;s office reported only two individuals among those improperly registered had voted but noted their citizenship status during voting remains unknown since both failed to provide proof of citizenship when interacting with DMV services\u2014voting as a noncitizen is against federal law.<\/p>\n<p>To mitigate future errors, Oregon&#8217;s DMV has implemented new prompts within its data entry system aimed at accurately recording citizenship information and has begun daily audits prior sending registrations off for processing by Griffin-Valade\u2019s office.<br \/>\nJoyce mentioned ongoing efforts are being made regarding verifying birth certificate-based registrations which should conclude within two weeks\u2014well ahead of ballot distribution in Oregon.<\/p>\n<p>Logan Washburn is an election integrity staff writer with experience contributing articles across various publications including The Wall Street Journal and The Daily Caller; he hails from Central Oregon but currently resides in rural Michigan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":2341927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/800px-Oregon_ballot_return_box.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15790,5835,4549,6547,4808],"class_list":["post-2341926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-or","tag-aliens","tag-defends","tag-law","tag-official"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/800px-Oregon_ballot_return_box.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2341926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2341926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2341927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2341926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2341926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2341926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}