Federal Court Finds Oregon Violated Voter Law Amid Inactive Registration Surge

Judicial Watch has won a lawsuit to force Oregon to update its voter rolls, asserting that the voter rolls contain a large number of inactive and old registrations.

The non-partisan educational foundation, Judicial Watch, announced yesterday that an Oregon federal court has ruled in its favor, ensuring that the state cleans up its voter rolls.

Oregon Has Violated the National Voter Registration Act

Together with the Constitution Party of Oregon and two registered voters, the Judicial Watch lawsuit alleges that the state violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The Act requires states to make ‘a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters’ who have died or changed residence.

Other allegations are that 29 of Oregon’s 36 counties removed few or no registrations as required by federal election law, with Judicial Watch asserting that 35 of its counties have overall registration rates exceeding 100%.

The lawsuit also claims that Oregon has the highest known inactive registration rate of any state in the nation.

Judicial Watch initially filed the lawsuit in October 2024 after establishing the wide-ranging failure to clean up voter rolls. The successful lawsuit will force basic voter list maintenance provisions under Section 8 of the NVRA  (Judicial Watch, et al. v. The State of Oregon et al. (No. 6:24-cv-01783).

Action by Judicial Watch Has Led to the Removal of More than Five Million Ineligible Voters

In May, Judicial Watch announced that its work led to the removal of more than five million ineligible voters nationwide.

The president of the organization, Tom Fitton, applauded the Oregon federal court’s decision, adding that it has federal lawsuits against three states that could potentially eradicate millions of ineligible voters from the rolls.

The State Board of Elections in Kentucky has removed 735,000 ineligible voter registrations from its rolls since 2019, following a 2018 consent decree that resolved a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch. As part of its 2022 settlement, New York City alone has removed 918,139 ineligible names from its rolls.