The Oregon DMV has allowed 1,259 non-citizens to register to vote since 2021, a fourfold increase from the agency’s previous estimate, state officials said Monday.
Non-citizens are prohibited from voting in national or local elections. But earlier this month, the DMV acknowledged that it had found at least 306 instances in which employees mistakenly coded non-citizens who presented foreign passports or birth certificates when applying for a driver’s license or ID as having a U.S. passport or birth certificate.
That number shot up to 1,259 this week following a complete investigation by the DMV, according to Kris Strickler, director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, which oversees the department.
“While we regret this situation has occurred, we moved swiftly to correct the issue before the coming election and implemented swift corrective action to ensure the data processing error will not impact the (November) election or future elections,” Strickler told reporters Monday.
