George Soros Bought Oregon’s Voting System

George Soros Bought Oregon’s Voting System
George-Soros-FEATURED.jpg

Oregon’s freshly inked “motor voter” legislation is a bad idea that has long been planned and orchestrated by George Soros.

Soros, you may recall, is a Hungarian-born billionaire who has clearly stated his disdain for democracy and desire to move America towards a European-style socialism—in other words, the prototypical liberal influence peddler.

Understanding the Soros agenda—and Kate Brown’s ties to him—goes a long way towards understanding why HB2177 came to be. Soros created something called the “Secretary of State Project” with the mission of pouring money into little-watched secretary of state races for “clean candidates” because, as Joseph Stalin famously said, “It doesn’t matter who votes; it matters who counts the votes.”

The cover story for the Secretary of State Project is simple: “Voter fraud is largely a myth, vote suppression is used widely by Republicans, cleansing the dead and fictional characters from voter rolls should be avoided until embarrassing media reports emerge, and anyone who demands that a voter produce photo identification before pulling the lever is a racist.

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown was one of the project’s candidates, receiving $65,000 from Soros, and was easily elected.

Predictably, one of Brown’s stated goals as she enters office has a familiar ring to it. She vowed to “remove barriers to voter registration,” and her signing HB2177 does just that.

The bill automatically registers to vote anyone who interacts with the DMV to acquire or renew a license or ID. The person will receive notification in the mail, and they can opt out of their registration. This is alarming to opponents who wonder if the vetting process for a person’s eligibility to vote can be performed effectively by the average DMV employee.  Brown attempted to pass a similar bill in 2013 but it was defeated by a one-vote margin.  

Opponents are concerned over several issues, including a driver’s personal choice and privacy. All drivers will automatically be registered as voters unless they specifically opt out three weeks after their visit at the DMV—and the process can’t be done at the DMV.

Since Oregon’s Elections Division experienced two significant database hacks in 2014, being forced to submit one’s personal information into the same agency doesn’t instill confidence in this new plan.

Additionally, HB 2177 has all the earmarks of a government power grab with little oversight. The estimated fiscal impact is $1.5 million with an IOU debt statement attached with no concrete funding.

Further, legislative watchdog groups are concerned about the shift in power this gives to the Secretary of State. “This bill takes the Legislative oversight on voter qualifications and shifts it to the executive branch. The bill says the secretary of state will decide ‘by rule’ what to extract from the DMV records. This process can change from secretary to secretary. Promises made by one secretary are not required to be kept by the next one.”

While some see this bill as a streamlined method to register voters, others see it as a process to get more voters automatically on the books to vote than might have voter eligibility status.

Soros has effectively gone Stalin one better. He has control of not only who counts Oregon’s ballots, but the registration process as well.

HB2177 is a terrible bill. If anyone other than a true-blue progressive wants to win a race in any future campaigns, George Soros and his bought-and-paid-for secretary of state—now governor—will be there to ensure it doesn’t happen.

Resources:
HB2177 Enrolled
HB2177 Summary
Ties between George Soros, Kate Brown, John Kitzhaber, Tom Steyer and SEIU

Oregon Director
Anne Marie Gurney is the Oregon Director in at the Freedom Foundation where she focuses on holding local governments and public-sector unions accountable to citizens. She has been a small business owner and a school board member. Anne Marie became a passionate about school choice after working with other parents to keep her children’s online charter school open. Since then she has been active in local politics on issues including education, transportation, labor, and open government. Anne Marie is a graduate of Multnomah University in Portland,where she lives with her family, which includes a dog, a cat and three chickens.