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Oregon election system faces scrutiny as state moves to address 800,000 inactive voters: ‘Astounding’

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Oregon election system faces scrutiny as state moves to address 800,000 inactive voters: ‘Astounding’

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Oregon election officials are set to begin removing hundreds of thousands of inactive voters from the state’s registration rolls, a move that comes after years of inaction, mounting public pressure, and lawsuits filed against the state in recent months.

Oregon’s Democratic Secretary of State Tobias Read, in a press release Friday, outlined two new directives he said will “restart” the “routine cleanup of outdated, inactive voter registration records” in accordance with state law to address the roughly 800,000 inactive voter records that are being maintained by election officials.

The first directive orders counties to immediately cancel long-inactive voter registrations that already met the legal requirements for removal before 2017. These are registrations where election mail was returned as undeliverable, voters failed to respond to official notices, and they did not participate in multiple federal elections. State officials estimate roughly 160,000 registrations fall into this category and should have been removed years ago.

The second directive changes how the state handles inactive voters going forward. It updates the language on voter confirmation cards to clearly warn voters that their registrations will be canceled if they do not respond or vote within the required time frame. State officials say this step restores a process that allows routine cleanup of inactive registrations under federal law.

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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.”

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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.

MARYLAND DODGES SPECIFICS IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT VOTER-ROLL CASE AS CONGRESS VOWS TO KEEP DIGGING

Oregon State Capitol Building (Getty Images)

However, inactive voters are still counted in the official voter roll totals, included in public records, and many experts have made the case that accurate rolls should reflect real, current voters, not people who moved years ago or can’t be located. Leaving outdated records in place increases the risk of mistakes, an expert on the subject told Fox News Digital. 

“First of all, it’s astounding that they haven’t been removing anybody from the voter force in almost a decade because this is very basic 101 level election administration,” said Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project. 

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Snead explained that voter rolls naturally change every year as people move, die, lose eligibility due to felony convictions, or leave the state, creating constant churn that must be managed. When states fail to keep up, Snead says, voter rolls become bloated and outdated, making elections harder to administer and increasing the risk of errors and abuse.

Snead emphasized that the problem is especially serious in mail-in voting states like Oregon. He argues that automatically mailing ballots while failing to routinely clean voter rolls makes it more likely that ballots will be sent to people who are no longer eligible, including those who have moved or died. Even if state officials say inactive voters don’t receive ballots, Snead says Oregon’s recent administrative failures, including the suspension of its automatic voter registration program in 2024 after non-citizens were mistakenly registered, justify skepticism about whether safeguards are consistently working as claimed.

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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.”

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Oregon has been slapped with several lawsuits in recent months related to its handling of voter rolls, from Judicial Watch, Public Interest Legal Foundation, 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.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital after publication, an Oregon SOS spokesperson said, “We can’t comment on pending litigation.  I can say that getting this done was a priority for Secretary Read before he even took office, and he took this step because it’s the right thing to do. He wants his office focused on the details.  We know this won’t satisfy those bad actors trying to undermine our free, fair, secure American elections, but the average Oregon voter can rest assured we are doing the hard work of running accurate and transparent elections.”

“Furthermore, the DOJ lawsuit is not related – it’s about whether we have to hand over Oregonians’ private voter data. Which we have no intent of doing.”

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. 

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“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.”

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San Francisco, CA

Trump floats sending federal agents to San Francisco to tackle crime

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Trump floats sending federal agents to San Francisco to tackle crime


President Donald Trump was once again floating the idea of sending federal agents to San Francisco to tackle crime.

It happened during a cabinet meeting on Thursday. The president praised Mayor Daniel Lurie’s efforts to lower crime but said he can do it more effectively.

“San Francisco, I know, they have a mayor who’s trying very hard. He’s a Democrat, but he’s trying very hard, but we can do it much more effectively, because he can’t do what we do. He can’t take people out from the city and bring them to back to the country, from where they came, where they were in prisons,” Trump said.

“He’s trying. He’s doing okay, but we could do much better. We could make it a lot safer than it is. San Francisco, a great city, was a great city, could quickly become a great city again. But, you know, they’re going very slowly,” he continued.

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The president implied that the mayor needs federal help to battle crime, saying immigrants are responsible for the lawlessness. However, according to a 2025 study by researches at UCLA and Northwestern, arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants was not associated with reduced crime rates.

Gabriel Medina, executive director of La Raza Community Resource Center In San Francisco agrees.

“I think we need to make sure that our city does not also try to play this game of making up ideas about always associating crime with immigrants, when immigrants commit less crime, so that’s really bad,” Medina said.

In response to the president comments, the mayor released a statement that reads: “In San Francisco, crime is down 30%, encampments are at record lows, and our city is on the rise. Public safety is my number one priority, and we are going to stay laser focused on keeping our streets safe and clean.”

This isn’t the first time President Trump has mused with the idea of sending federal agents to the Bay Area; last October, agents were staged at a military base in Alameda, but Trump called off the plan after talking with Lurie and Bay Area tech leaders.

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“We cannot normalize what this president is saying from San Francisco, that crime is associated with immigration. We need to stop conflating that,” Medina said.



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Denver, CO

Jazz List 8 Players on Injury Report vs. Nuggets

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Jazz List 8 Players on Injury Report vs. Nuggets


The Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets are tipping off their second-to-last meeting of the 2025-26 season on Friday in the Mile High, where for the Jazz in particular, they’ll be dealing with several injuries headed into the matchup that’ll make them shorthanded once again. 

Here’s what to expect on the injury front for both the Jazz and Nuggets on Friday night:

Utah Jazz Injury Report

OUT – Isaiah Collier (hamstring)

OUT – Keyonte George (hamstring)

OUT – Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee)

OUT – Walker Kessler (shoulder)

OUT – Lauri Markkanen (hip)

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OUT – Jusuf Nurkic (nose)

PROBABLE – Kyle Filipowski (illness)

OUT – Blake Hinson (two-way)

It’s a lot of the same for the Jazz when looking back at some of their recent injury reports, but there’s also some good news to note as well.

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Second-year big man Kyle Filipowski, specifically, is trending up to play in Denver after dealing with an illness against the Washington Wizards; an issue that kept him sidelined for one game and left the Jazz’s frontcourt notably shorthanded for what would be a double-digit loss.

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During his post-All-Star stretch, Filipowski has been averaging 13.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, along with 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks through 11 games.

He’s slotted in primarily as the Jazz’s starting center since both Walker Kessler and Jusuf Nurkic have been out with season-ending injuries, and has shown some nice flashes throughout.

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Mar 23, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz center Kyle Filipowski (22) controls the ball during the first quarter against the Toronto Raptors at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images | Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images

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However, outside of getting Filipowski back in the mix, the Jazz will still be without second-year guard Isaiah Collier, who continues to deal with hamstring soreness, and will also continue to be down Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen with their extended absences.

It remains to be seen if any of the latter two will be able to return at some point this season, but now with less than 10 games to go on the calendar before the offseason officially hits, the chances of either Markkanen or George coming back keep getting slimmer and slimmer.

For the extent either remains out, expect to see a good chunk of Ace Bailey being the primary scoring option as he has through his recent slate of games, along with an expanded role for their two-way and 10-day players down the bench who have gotten more minutes in recent weeks.

Denver Nuggets Injury Report

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OUT – David Roddy (two-way)

OUT – KJ Simpson (two-way)

As for the Nuggets, their injury slate remains clean. The only names out will be a pair of their two way signings in David Roddy and KJ Simpsons, while the rest of their roster is slated to be active.

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It’s a major change from what the Nuggets have been used to all season when factoring in their several injuries to key players lasting multiple weeks.

Nikola Jokic, Cameron Johnson, Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon, and Peyton Watson have all missed significant time at one point or another this season, but against Utah, they’ll have all systems go as they roll into the game on a three-game win streak.

Tip-off between the Jazz and Nuggets lands at 7 p.m. MT in Ball Arena.



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Seattle, WA

Harger: Hundreds responded to my Seattle homelessness commentary. Here’s what you said, and what I missed – MyNorthwest.com

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Harger: Hundreds responded to my Seattle homelessness commentary. Here’s what you said, and what I missed – MyNorthwest.com


Last week, I wrote about the word “homeless” and what it’s hiding. About Ben, who lives in his Jeep with his dog after a divorce and a job loss, ready to work, unable to get help because he doesn’t fit the profile the system was built for. About a woman in a tent in Ballard, severely addicted to fentanyl, found unresponsive twice in one week, turning down shelter every time it’s offered. About a third group: the severely mentally ill, cycling endlessly between the street, the ER, and the jail.

One word covering three completely different crises. One industry getting rich off the confusion.

I was not prepared for what came back.

A listener texted almost immediately to say I had perfectly described the homeless industrial complex. I’ve heard that phrase before. I’d never stopped to really sit with it. But that’s exactly what it is: A system that has organized itself around the problem rather than the solution, where the incentive is to manage homelessness, not end it.

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Seattle readers respond: The homeless industrial complex, tiny homes, and a broken housing system

The emails and texts started coming in immediately and haven’t stopped. From people who said they felt seen for the first time. From people living this. From people who have been trying to say exactly this for years and couldn’t get anyone to listen.

Don wrote that the suffering caused by misguided homeless policy is just as real whether the motivation is malicious or simply misguided. He put it better than I did.

“The results are likely worse than what most of us could generate from a lifetime of determined ill-will,” Don wrote.

You don’t have to be cruel to cause real damage. You just have to be wrong and well-funded.

Igor called it “homeless heresy.” Two words. Said everything.

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Laurie asked me to keep holding the spending accountable. I intend to.

Tammy told me her friend was given a tiny home and is doing meth inside it. She said the community has a room where residents do their drugs. She thought tiny homes were drug-free. They’re not required to be. That’s exactly what I was talking about. We put a roof over someone’s head, call it compassion, and walk away from the harder problem.

James flagged something I want to look into more closely. Affordable housing programs, he said, require proof of residency going back two years. This makes it nearly impossible for someone who is actually homeless to qualify. He was denied housing himself because his name wasn’t on his brother’s lease, even though that was the only address he had. That’s worth a much closer look.

Seattle homelessness has more categories than I described. A DV survivor showed me what I missed

Andrea is a domestic violence survivor who suffered a serious work injury the same year. She lost her mobility, her housing, and her safety all at once, and ended up back in a home with family members she’d spent years trying to escape. She doesn’t fit neatly into any of the three categories I described. She falls through every crack in the system.

I should have included her situation, and I didn’t. That was a mistake.

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I’ve worked on stories with The More We Love, an organization that works specifically with women and children in situations like Andrea’s, and I want to tell her story more fully in the weeks ahead.

Steve spent seven years as a mission coordinator at a Seattle homeless mission in Belltown, interviewing everyone who came in seeking help. He wrote to describe a fourth category I did not address: people in the country illegally using services intended for others. It’s a complicated area, and I’m not going to treat his account as the final word, but it’s worth noting that people working directly in these facilities are seeing things the policy conversations aren’t accounting for.

Sally, a low-income senior who navigated the system herself and now rides Seattle buses regularly, wrote to describe several more categories I had not addressed: LGBTQ+ youth, domestic violence survivors on the run, and the residentially unstable who cycle through evictions and can’t get along in shelter settings. She’s offered to talk, and I may take her up on it.

North Beacon Hill: Open-air drug use, encampments near schools, and letters that go nowhere

Kevin is from North Beacon Hill. He wrote to describe his neighborhood: the parks full of encampments, the open-air drug use and sales, the day cares and schools nearby, the community group writing letters that go nowhere. His council member attended one meeting and didn’t seem particularly interested. The neighborhood is left to document what’s happening and hope someone eventually notices.

I went out to Kevin’s North Beacon Hill neighborhood this week. I talked to him. That report airs early next week, and I think you’ll want to check it out.

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Seattle’s homeless policy is failing. People see it clearly. They just needed someone to say it

People aren’t confused about this. They see it clearly. They’ve been seeing it for years. They just haven’t had anyone reflect it back to them without flinching.

Igor called it heresy. Around here, maybe it is. We’ve spent billions. The people sleeping outside are still sleeping outside. The people like Ben who just need a hand up can’t get one. And suggesting that what we’re doing clearly isn’t working is apparently the most controversial thing you can say in this city.

I’m not done with this story. Not even close.

Charlie Harger is the host of  on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries . Follow Charlie  and email him 

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