DMV Continues to Monitor, Implement Controls from Oregon Motor Voter After-Action Report
In Oregon, people 16 years and older who apply for or renew a state-issued driver’s license, permit or ID card and provide appropriate documentation proving U.S. citizenship have their information sent to Oregon’s Secretary of State to complete the automatic voter registration process. The Oregon Motor Voter System at DMV includes a two-step review process by officials to verify registrants' identity and residence and confirm their eligibility to vote.
Prompted by an inquiry from an outside entity on July 29, 2024, DMV conducted a review of customer data that went to the SoS Elections Division for registration as part of OMV. DMV’s review of roughly 1.4 million records to date found clerical, technical and policy errors that resulted in more than 1,500 records sent in error to SoS. These records contained evidence of clerical errors regarding citizenship status. SoS inactivated all records from registration and electronically flagged them so any submitted ballot would be pulled at the local level and not counted in the Nov. 5, 2024, election. SoS is continuing to investigate whether they belong to noncitizens or if they had a voting history.
Governor Kotek directed DMV to establish a quality-control calendar in conjunction with the Elections Division of the SoS to review OMV data to ensure its accuracy and correct any errors. On Oct. 7, 2024, Governor Kotek also directed DMV to pause the transfer of OMV data to SoS pending confirmation of improvements in data accuracy.
Monthly through 2025, DMV will sample new OMV records and manually review them against information collected from customers to verify accuracy and correct any errors. This information will be included in a monthly Voter Registration Status Report outlining DMV’s data quality-control work to further ensure the integrity of OMV data. The report is posted monthly on this page (see below).
As a partner to Oregon’s Secretary of State, Oregon DMV is proud of the role it plays in helping U.S. citizens engage in our elections. While we regret this situation occurred, we remain committed to strengthening the accessibility and reliability of our elections.