Oregon, My Oregon

Jazz Shaw at Hat Hair, Oregon: Sorry About Registering All Those Illegals to Vote

One of the surest ways to be attacked by the progressive left is to raise the issue of illegal migrants voting in American elections. Should you do so, you will be accused of fearmongering, promoting "white nationalism," and, of course, racism. We are regularly assured that in the incredibly rare cases where such a thing might happen, it's a simple case of "new arrivals" becoming confused by our complex system of registration and voting. No harm, no foul! A recent analysis conducted by the Oregon Department of Transportation is going to make that defense much harder for people to accept, however. It turns out that in just the past few years, Oregon has registered literally hundreds of Joe Biden's illegal migrants to vote and at least some of them cast ballots illegally. So how did that happen and what can be done about it? It turns out that the state opened the door to making it quite easy for illegals to register to vote thanks to the DMV and the rules put in place by the state's Democratic majority. (Associated Press)

Oregon officials acknowledged Friday that the state mistakenly registered more than 300 non-citizens as voters since 2021 in what they described as a “data entry issue” that happened when people applied for driver’s licenses.

An initial analysis by the Oregon Department of Transportation, which oversees the state’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services, revealed that 306 non-citizens were registered to vote, said Kevin Glenn, a department spokesperson. Of those, two voted in elections since 2021.

State and federal laws prohibit non-citizens from voting in national and local elections.

It may seem easy enough to shrug off a few hundred people registering illegally and a few of them voting in a state with a population of more than four million people. But this red flag, along with so many others just like it around the country comes with a very large caveat that frequently goes unmentioned. Those are just the people they caught. How many others simply "fell through the cracks" or were even directed to register by progressive social activists?

This situation in Oregon highlights an even larger problem that we're running into in many states, though thankfully not all of them. When someone emigrates to the United States legally with the intent to begin their journey along the path to citizenship, they should definitely be able to go to the DMV and apply for a driver's license. Being able to get around independently will help them obtain legal employment, pay their taxes, and contribute to the community. But the DMV also needs to ensure that they are being properly informed about the process of legally obtaining citizenship and the steps that are required along the way.

Illegal migrants have no such claim to make. If you enter the country illegally, your only concern should be meeting with an immigration court and learning if and when you might be deported back to your country of origin. You are not entitled to a driver's license and you certainly do not need to have a voter registration form handed to you. And yet that is the default process in far too many states. When a local official at the DMV hands you a voter registration form, what do we expect you to think about it, particularly if you are barely conversant in the English language? In most cases, it's almost certainly not the (intentional) fault of the migrant for filling out a form that is handed to them. It's the fault of the politicians who made that the official policy.

There may be enough illegal aliens in Portland to outvote all the rednecks and lumberjacks in Douglas County.