Three people who may have voted as noncitizens in Oregon after being mistakenly registered to vote by state officials now face criminal investigation.

Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s office confirmed Friday that it had opened the investigations, two weeks after Oregon elections officials forwarded cases for review.

“While these cases are rare, it is our responsibility to investigate thoroughly and ensure that all voting is conducted in accordance with the law,” Rayfield said in a statement. “Ensuring the integrity of Oregon’s elections is a priority for our office. We will take appropriate action based on the facts and evidence we find as the result of our investigation.”

Details of the possible illegal votes are unclear, including which election they took place in and the nationality of those who cast them. But state officials have suggested those people did not register to vote in Oregon intentionally.

Beginning in September, officials at the state’s Driver and Motor Vehicles division revealed that staff error had led to more than 1,600 people being registered to vote in Oregon when they shouldn’t have been.

Oregon has more than 3 million registered voters.

Under the state’s Motor Voter law, instituted in 2016, people are automatically added to the voter rolls when they get a new state ID, as long as they show proof of citizenship.

But DMV officials said last year that some people had erroneously been registered despite showing foreign passports or birth certificates. State workers also mistakenly registered people born in American Samoa, though they aren’t automatically U.S. citizens.

It’s illegal for people who aren’t U.S. citizens to vote in Oregon. And voting despite knowing you’re not allowed to is punishable by up to a year in jail.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/21/oregon-department-justice-doj-investigation-voting-noncitizens/