PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon elections officials said Monday they had struck over 1,200 people from the state’s voter rolls after determining they did not provide proof of U.S. citizenship when they were registered to vote.
Of those found to be possibly ineligible, only nine people voted in elections since 2021, the Oregon secretary of state’s office said. County clerks are working to confirm whether those people were indeed ineligible when they cast their ballots, or just hadn’t provided the required documentation when they were registered to vote, said Molly Woon, the office’s elections director.
The disclosures come amid heightened scrutiny of voter rolls nationwide, from Oregon to Arizona and Texas, as the presidential election nears. Citing an influx of immigrants in recent years at the U.S.-Mexico border, Republicans have raised concerns about the possibility that people who aren’t citizens will be voting, even though state data indicates such cases are rare.
In Oregon, for example, the nine people whose citizenship hasn’t been confirmed and who cast ballots represent a tiny fraction of the state’s 3 million registered voters. Ten people were found to have voted after being improperly registered, but one was later confirmed to be eligible, authorities said.