Fact Check: Were 20% Oregon voters fake after removing 800000 inactive registrations?

SALEM, OREGON: A widely shared claim has suggested that 20% of Oregon’s registered voters were fake, even after the state removed roughly 800,000 inactive voter registrations from its rolls. This assertion has circulated on social media, implying that a large portion of the state’s electorate was fraudulent. Let us fact-check the claim.

Claim: 20% of Oregon’s registered voters are fake

The claim first appeared on a post on X, posted on Monday, January 12, by a user named @upstatefederlst, which read, “Hold on. Oregon's population is only 4.25M.... 20% of their registered voters were fake?”

The post suggests that 20 percent of Oregon voters were revealed to be 'fake' after the Secretary of State announced they were going to clean 800,000 names from the voter rolls.

Fact Check: The claim is  'incredibly misleading'

Tess Seger, Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, in an email, said that the claim was 'incredibly misleading.'

Via telephone, Seger said the '800,000 people being removed from the voter rolls are people who were at one time registered to vote in Oregon.' She shared a press release from the Secretary of State's office explaining the removal of about 800,000 inactive registrations from the voter rolls.

The release read, “A record is moved to 'inactive' status when elections officials identify that a registration is potentially out-of-date, for example: their election mail is returned as undeliverable. Oregonians will receive notification if their record is inactivated, and they must take action to re-activate their record and receive a ballot.”

“Inactive voters do not receive ballots.”

“There are approximately 800,000 inactive voter records still being maintained by elections officials. This data is separate from Oregon's active voter list and not included in the 3 million active voter total. Neither of these directives will impact Oregon's 3 million active voters.”

What 'inactive' voter status means in Oregon

A record is moved to 'inactive' status when election officials identify that a registration is potentially out-of-date, for example, their election mail is returned as undeliverable. 

Oregonians will receive notification if their record is inactivated, and they must take action to re-activate their record and receive a ballot.

Inactive voters do not receive ballots.

There are approximately 800,000 inactive voter records still being maintained by elections officials.

This data is separate from Oregon's active voter list and not included in the 3 million active voter total. Neither of these directives will impact Oregon's 3 million active voters.