Were 650 dead Oregonians mailed ballots?

Following a study commissioned by the Cascade Policy Institute (a non-partisan think tank located in Portland), the Oregon Secretary of State’s office admitted that 650 dead people may receive ballots in the upcoming general election.

Cascade compared the Oregon Voter registration list against the Master Social Security Death List and found 6,142 exact matches. To assure accuracy Cascade waited until October so the voter registration list would be the same one the state used to mail the ballots.

After filing a formal complaint with the Oregon State Election Division, the state immediately began to investigate the list and found that 4,998 of the names were inactive and were not mailed ballots. 1,144 were listed as active voters and were mailed ballots.

In an unscientific sampling the state then phoned 37 of the active names and determined that while 16 were alive, 21 were deceased. The state concluded that using that criterion they probably mailed 650 ballots to dead people.

Jeff Alan, Chief Investigator for Cascade has asked the state to investigate further and track the questionable ballots on Election Day. Alan has asked the state to take appropriate action should any of these ballots be cast. Alan said, “I hope the state will challenge anyone who would attempt to vote using one of the names on the list on Election Day.”

Cascade believes that because Oregon is a vote by mail state, the potential for fraud is greater then in a state where you must show ID at a polling place to be able to vote.

The list was compiled by matching first and last names and date of birth from both lists. Only last known Oregon zip codes were used from the Master death list and duplicate names were eliminated entirely.

For more information contact: Jeff Alan
Cascade Policy Institute — 503-242-0900

Note: The Cascade Compilation Election Death List is the property of Cascade and will be made available to the media upon request. Any reprinting of the list in any form must be cleared by Cascade. Cascade Policy Institute shall receive a mandatory on-screen or in print credit for the display of any part of the list.

The Oregonian ran its version of this story today.