By Katie Daviscourt – The Postmillennial
Oregon election officials announced that they will not pursue criminal investigations against the dozens of non-citizens who illegally cast ballots in elections in recent years after they were unlawfully registered to vote due to a DMV clerical error.
According to a statement from the Oregon Secretary of State, the decision rests on the fact that the non-citizens allegedly did not knowingly violate election laws or were either eligible to vote at the time they did. “The Secretary of State’s Office will not refer anyone for criminal prosecution because the DMV mistakenly registered them to vote,” the statement reads. “A clerical error at DMV caused these mistaken registrations, not the unlawful actions of any of the people registered.”
This comes after a last year investigation revealed that at least 1,863 individuals were unlawfully registered to vote under the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) voter registration system. Hundreds of those individuals were determined to be non-citizens. Oregon law allows anyone to obtain a driver’s license despite immigration status. The error occurred when DMV staff mistakenly selected “US passport” or “US birth certificate” while entering documentation data for individuals applying for driver’s licenses. This error led to non-citizens being added to the voter registration system.
39 of the 1,863 individuals who were unlawfully registered, many of whom were noncitizens, had cast ballots in elections in recent years, the Oregonian reported. Election authorities argued that the number of people who voted illegally did not affect the outcome of an election, giving them another excuse to avoid inquiries.
At least three individuals were referred to the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) for a criminal probe due to the Secretary of State’s Office stating that they had not responded to their inquiry about voting history. However, the state DOJ decided not to proceed with the investigations.
Department of Justice administrator, Jeffrey Howes, wrote in a September letter issued to Deputy Secretary of State Michael Kaplan that it would be difficult to prove that any of the individuals knowingly violated the law. Each case “presents complex proof challenges to reach the standard necessary for a criminal conviction,” Howes said, according to the letter obtained by Oregon Capital Chronicle.
The US Department of Justice has not yet issued a public statement regarding the termination of the criminal investigations. The Post Millennial reached out for comment.