Voters cast their ballots at official ballot boxes on Nov. 8, 2022, in Portland, Oregon. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)
Together, the directives are designed to address a backlog of inactive records and restart regular voter-roll maintenance after Oregon paused removals in 2017.
"These directives are about cleaning up old data that’s no longer in use so Oregonians can be confident that our voter records are up-to-date," Read said. "From day one, our goal was clear: run elections that are secure, fair, and accurate. This move will strengthen our voter rolls and reinforce public trust in our elections."
State officials acknowledge there are about 800,000 inactive registrations total, roughly 20% of Oregon’s voter rolls, though they stress multiple times in the press release that inactive voters do not currently receive ballots, saying at one point, "again, none of the individuals associated with these records will receive ballots, and these inactive records have no impact on Oregon elections."
Being marked "inactive" in Oregon means you’re still listed as a registered voter, but you aren’t receiving ballot mail from the state until you reactivate your registration.
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An election worker tabulating a ballot. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
"I think there's clearly a degree of skepticism that's warranted, and I think that it really speaks to the need to always be focused on the basics of election administration," Snead said. "Cleaning of the vote rolls is really one of the most foundational, important things that a secretary of state should be doing."
Oregon has been slapped with two lawsuits in recent months related to its handling of voter rolls, from Judicial Watch as well as Trump’s Department of Justice, and Snead suspects the timing of the secretary of state’s announcement is "probably to some degree" related to that.
"There's an almost pathological resistance on the left to cleaning up the voter rolls, they call it voter purge, and they say that this is going to disenfranchise voters," Snead said. "We've heard of all of the various statements. You know, lots of different ways and lots of different examples. But then when you actually bring litigation over this, sometimes that forces their hand."
Cleaning up voter rolls has become an increasingly politicized issue in recent years, with Republicans pushing for more oversight in the name of election integrity and Democrats accusing Republicans of attempting to "disenfranchise" voters.
"Democrats support normal list maintenance and reasonable efforts to keep voter rolls up to date and in compliance with federal law," DNC Spokesperson Albert Fujii told Fox News Digital. "The contrast could not be clearer: Donald Trump and the Republican Party are pushing aggressive voter purges to systematically disenfranchise eligible voters across the country, especially voters of color."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, RNC National Press Secretary Kiersten Pels said, "Oregon's Democrat Secretary of State has presided over one of the most bloated voter rolls in the country, with more than 800,000 inactive registrations."
"Democratic states have allowed their voter rolls to spiral out of control, especially in mail-in voting systems like Oregon’s. The RNC is taking action nationwide to ensure states are cleaning their voter rolls as required by law."
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/oregon-election-system-faces-scrutiny-state-moves-address-800000-inactive-voters-astounding