The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles has directed its employees to process the voter registration of those with “unknown citizenship” status, simply requiring that they claim eligibility, The Federalist has learned.
“If you don’t prove that you’re not a U.S. citizen, then you will be asked if you want to self-attest to being a citizen, and they will assist you with registering to vote,” Republican state Rep. Ed Diehl told The Federalist.
Early last month, Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek paused Oregon’s “motor voter” program as the state began a cursory investigation into how the system had registered more than 1,500 potential noncitizens to vote, as The Federalist previously reported.
In response to this discovery, Diehl met with state DMV leaders on Oct. 21. He said the DMV has reverted to only registering voters with a form that relies on attestation to prove citizenship.
“Instead of being optional — a side track basically for voter registration — it’s right now the only way,” Diehl said.
Though the “motor voter” process that Kotek paused allowed more than 1,500 individuals to vote without proof of citizenship, that process theoretically required some level of documentary proof of citizenship, in contrast with the current registration method Diehl described.
Kevin Glenn, communications director for the Oregon Department of Transportation, told The Federalist that the DMV had been using a method in which the DMV would forward the customer’s information to the secretary of state’s office for voter registration if the customer presented “an identity document that proves they are a U.S. citizen.”
“That process is on hold while an external audit of the program is conducted,” Glenn said.
He said that the DMV has adopted a different process “while Oregon Motor Voter has been paused.” He said this process is electronic and claims it is in place to comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires state motor vehicle agencies to register voters.
“If, during a transaction with DMV, a person presents an identity document that does not prove they are a U.S. citizen, but also does not indicate they are not a U.S. citizen (e.g. immigration document, foreign passport), we offer the person the opportunity to register to vote,” Glenn said. “That requires the person certify they are a U.S. citizen.”
Glenn also said residents can “attest they are eligible to vote” by filling out a registration card.
“If done at a DMV office, DMV forwards that card to the Secretary of State or county clerk,” he said.
When it comes to proof of identity, the Oregon voter registration form requires the last four digits of one’s Social Security number, a driver’s license number, or another form of “acceptable identification” like “a utility bill” or “a paycheck stub.” (Social Security numbers may be acquired by noncitizens and are not proof of citizenship.) Voters check boxes to say that they are age 16 or older and a U.S. citizen.
If an individual lies on an attestation, he commits perjury, a “felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $125,000” and a civil offense that carries a penalty of up to $10,000. But enforcement mechanisms, if any, are unclear.
“Unless they demonstrate that they’re not a citizen, yeah, they’ll offer them to vote,” Diehl said of the DMV’s current registration process.
Under this system, the DMV has sent more than 54,600 voter registrations of individuals who have not proven citizenship to Democrat Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade from June 2021 to October 2024, according to documents obtained by The Federalist.
Registering Voters of ‘Unknown Citizenship’
The Federalist obtained documents that the DMV sent Diehl after the meeting. These documents confirm that the agency is registering potential noncitizens to vote if they simply claim eligibility.
An Oregon DMV document obtained by The Federalist, “Proof of Citizenship Accepted By DMV” dated Oct. 25, specifically states that the agency offers “opt-in voter registration” to those with “unknown citizenship status.”
“DMV began offering an opt-in voter registration opportunity at credential issuance to individuals with unknown citizenship status,” the document reads. “The opt-in voter registration opportunity requires a self-certification of citizenship by the applicant. Applicants who present proof of non-citizenship are not offered the voter registration opportunity.”
The DMV printed 8,293 such registration cards from January 2021 to June 2021, delivering them to county election offices, and sent 54,656 such registrations to the secretary of state from June 2021 to October 2024, according to the document.
These registrations followed the Democrat-controlled Oregon legislature passing HB 2015, the document said. HB 2015, which was passed in 2019 but took effect in 2021, removed the requirement of proving legal status to get a driver’s license.
A DMV slideshow obtained by The Federalist, “Credential Issuance Transactions In A Field Office,” dated Oct. 21, explains how the database “OLIVR” — Oregon License Issuance and Vehicle Registration — instructs staff members to handle the voter registration of potential noncitizens.
“If the customer presents a document that does not indicate non-citizenship, OLIVR will prompt the staff member to ask the customer if they would like to register to vote,” the slideshow reads. “If the customer responds yes, they are then prompted to read and certify their eligibility using the pin pad.”
Another DMV document obtained by The Federalist, by the same title and with the same date, describes the procedure similarly.
An Oregon DMV slideshow explaining how the database registers possible noncitizens to vote. Courtesy of Ed Diehl
The DMV began offering REAL IDs, which have some federal ID requirements, in 2020, according to an “After-Action Report” from the DMV. (Notably, citizenship is not a requirement for REAL ID.) But “customers could still choose the standard license or ID that did not require meeting the REAL ID requirements.”
“The majority of customers continued to choose the standard credential over the REAL ID version,” the report reads. “Standard issuances merely indicated that the person did not choose REAL ID and did not necessarily prove legal presence.”
Glenn said that the secretary of state’s office, not the DMV, registers voters.
When asked what verification measures the secretary’s office uses to prevent noncitizens on the voter rolls, Griffin-Valade’s Communications Director Laura Kerns told The Federalist that administrative rules say the DMV should only forward information for those who have proven citizenship.
“The rule clearly states that DMV should only be sending information to our office for individuals ‘with a record of providing documentation to DMV establishing that the individual is a U.S. citizen,’” Kerns said. “As the DMV has repeatedly made clear, the issue was the result of errors in how they were identifying the information to send to our office.”
The ‘Tip of the Iceberg’
Kotek’s review of Orgeon’s “motor voter” system only examines a portion of “motor voter” registrations since 2021, targeting a limited number of issues, like the improper ID being recorded — even though the program has been operating since 2016. A recent report, examining this limited data, found 56 additional potential noncitizens on the voter rolls, bringing the total to 1,617.
Glenn said the DMV’s review included “standard licenses, permits, and ID cards” after Jan. 1, 2021, that indicated American citizenship.
“It is believed the risk of clerical error does not exist in records transmitted before 2021 or for REAL IDs for reasons described in the After-Action Report,” Glenn said.
Republican state Sen. Dennis Linthicum told The Federalist that he thinks Kotek and Griffin-Valade are taking advantage of the election system, “setting it up and utilizing it for their own benefit.”
“When the governor demands an outside audit, and then they limit the scope to these handful of circumstances or issues, what they’re leaving wide open is the rest of the endeavor,” Linthicum said. “Because they know that if anyone takes a real strong look at the endeavor, you’ll see that it is fraught with hazards.”
Linthicum has been a state senator since 2017, and he lost the race for Oregon secretary of state this month after becoming the Republican nominee. He said he thinks this investigation is a farce so officials can “pretend to barricade and stop those issues.”
“Yet, the whole rest of the body politic could be equally as corrupt, if not more,” he said. “They don’t have a comprehensive methodology for stopping noncitizens from voting.”
Linthicum said he thinks state officials should examine monthly voter roll data for eight to 10 years to ensure there are not larger issues.
After discovering noncitizens on the voter rolls, Kerns said the secretary of state took steps to hire a “motor voter oversight” position in the Oregon Elections Division” to establish a process with the DMV of “regular data checks and review processes” with the elections division and update administrative rules.
Jeff Eager, former mayor of Bend, Oregon, who writes on state politics, told The Federalist he has been trying to obtain public records regarding the “motor voter” program placing noncitizens on the rolls. The DMV postponed releasing records until after the election.
“It looks to me like they’re playing games with the response by continually delaying it,” Eager said. “The concern here is that it’s the tip of the iceberg, because you have the majority of voters in Oregon having registered to vote without providing proof of citizenship at all.”
Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’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.
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