Top State of Oregon staff, including the spokesperson for Governor Tina Kotek and then-Elections Director Molly Woon, discussed using a host of federal databases to verify the citizenship of Oregon registered voters in the aftermath of disclosure the state had unlawfully registered over 1,500 noncitizens to vote, call notes obtained by Oregon Roundup via public records request show.
The notes, requested January 14, were delivered to Oregon Roundup by the Governor’s office today, hours after President Trump issued an executive order to require states to verify voters’ citizenship in conjunction with the federal government. That order applies to federal elections only. States including Oregon hold state elections concurrently with federal elections, using the same pool of registered voters.
The notes arise from an emergency staff conference call held Saturday, September 14, the day after news broke Oregon had registered noncitizens to vote. At the time, the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles and Secretary of State were trying to get control of a fast-breaking story, including by determining the full extent of registration of noncitizens.
According to the notes, staff discussed the possibility of using the following federal databses to verify the citizenship of Oregon voters: SAVE, an online database to help states verify citizenship for entitlement program eligibility and databases for social security numbers, birth certificates and passport verification.
Oregon Roundup reported in December that Woon had proposed using SAVE to verify citizenship in an email dated September 13, 2024. The records obtained today show the concept of using federal citizenship verification tools received attention during the all-hands-on-deck Saturday call. An agency spokespersperson told Oregon Roundup in December “the Secretary of State’s Office does not use SAVE.” (Emphasis added). The question posed was, “Has Sec State’s office used SAVE at any time, and if so in what capacity and when?”
Oregon Democrats have consistently and stridently opposed requiring proof of citizenship for voters aside from the state’s own process of determining citizenship at the time of registration. The Department of Motor Vehicles and Secretary of State said it was human error that caused the existing system to fail, leading to the registration of noncitizens.
In a social media post, Secretary of State Tobias Read called Trump’s executive order “a threat to our responsibility as states to run fair, secure elections.” In another post, he wrote of the order, “This illegal action against American democracy will be challenged, and it will not stand.”
Read was sworn in as Secretary of State in January 2025, and did not hold that position during the time the state acknowledges it registered noncitizens to vote.
Democrats and others who oppose greater voter citizenship verification are expected to sue to stop implementation of the executive order.
This article originally appeared in the Oregon Roundup.