Oregon officials are moving to clean up the state’s voter registration rolls by removing roughly 800,000 inactive registrations, a decision that is drawing scrutiny amid ongoing debate over election integrity and vote-by-mail practices. The effort was announced by Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, who said the purge will finally address years of outdated voter records that election officials failed to remove.
Read, a Democrat, issued directives to county election clerks to cancel long-inactive voter registrations that met legal criteria for removal before 2017. These include registrations where mailed election materials were returned as undeliverable, voters did not respond to official notices, and they failed to vote in multiple federal elections. State officials estimate around 160,000 registrations fall into this overdue category.
In total, Oregon has about 3 million active registered voters, while inactive registrations — those that remain on the rolls despite no recent participation — number close to 800,000. Inactive voters do not receive ballots, but their names remaining on the rolls has raised concerns among election observers and law-and-order advocates.
The cleanup comes as Oregon’s vote-by-mail system — the first of its kind in the nation — faces criticism from national figures and conservative groups who argue that maintaining large numbers of outdated registrations undermines confidence in elections. Lawsuits from conservative organizations, including Judicial Watch, have previously pushed for more vigorous voter roll maintenance and challenged the state’s processes in federal court.
Supporters of the state’s actions say updating voter rolls will improve election accuracy and public trust, while critics contend the delay in addressing inactive registrations reflects deeper administrative lapses. The purge effort aligns with legal requirements for routine cleanup but has drawn political attention because of its scale.
As Oregon moves forward with the purge, election officials will need to balance compliance with state law and transparency to reassure voters that legitimate registrations are preserved and election integrity is upheld.
