DMV Issues 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 (SoS) to complete the automatic voter registration process. The Oregon Motor Voter (OMV) 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, DMV is conducting 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 has found clerical, technical and policy errors that resulted in 1,561 records sent in error to SoS. SoS is reviewing these documents to determine if any of these individuals have a voting history. These records contained evidence of clerical errors regarding citizenship status but that does not necessarily mean they belong to noncitizens. For example, we know that of the 10 individuals identified in an earlier review who had a voting history, at least five were in fact citizens.

This review continues and has prompted several steps to minimize the potential for these or other errors to occur in the future. An After-Action Report (see below) released on Oct. 7, 2024, detailed sources for error, identified additional risks for continued possible errors in the system, and described how we’re working to prevent such errors in the future. The report identified several corrective actions such as additional training and ongoing reviews and hiring a Voter Registration Integrity Manager.

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.