Twelve individuals residing in Deschutes County who are not U.S. citizens were registered to vote due to a human error at the DMV. All have been informed they won’t be casting ballots in the November election.

“They were registered by the DMV, but that was in error,” said Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison. “The error occurred on the DMV side. As those records passed through the Secretary of State’s office and ultimately through to the counties, these voters were added to the rolls in error.”

Dennison said letters are being mailed to all 12 voters informing them that their status as registered voters is being removed and they will not be mailed ballots unless they can prove that they have gained citizenship.

Across Oregon, 306 noncitizens were registered to vote, as determined by an internal audit by the Oregon DMV. The number of these voters represents 0.01% of voters. Two of the registered voters had a voting history in Oregon.

Dennison confirmed that none of the 12 individuals in Deschutes County have a voting record. He said the nationality of the voters are not known and could not speculate on their nationalities based on their names.

“They were added, but they did not take any action after the fact,” said Dennison. “They did not update their registration. They didn’t change their party affiliation. They didn’t vote.”

Crook County Clerk Cheryl Seely said none of the 306 erroneously registered individuals reside in Crook County. Jefferson County Clerk Kate Zemke said two ineligible voters in her county were registered to vote and she will purge them from the system.

Dennison described the error as “regrettable” but said he was pleased with the action that the state took to rectify the situation.

“I am glad that it was identified so we could take action,” he said.

His confidence remains high that the upcoming election in November will be fair.

“I am confident in the process and how we conduct our elections in Deschutes County and throughout Oregon is sound, the laws we follow are just and the elections that we’ve had recently have been proven to be accurate and the system works,” Dennison said.