Oregon Public Broadcasting

One in eight voter registrations is inaccurate, according to a new study by the Pew Center. But Oregon, Washington and six other states, were praised for their efforts to upgrade their voter registration systems.

The study looked at the nation's voter rolls and found that at least 51 million eligible citizens are unregistered, and that almost two million so called 'active voters' are dead.

The study concluded that the voter roll system is an antiquated, paper-based system, plagued with errors and inefficiencies.

Pew researchers took a particular look at Oregon's 2008 rolls and found taxpayers spent more than $4 to register each voter. By contrast in Canada, registration cost 35 cents.

Oregon Secretary of State, Kate Brown, says Oregon has set-up an on-line registration program at Oregonvotes.org.

Kate Brown: "We must make sure that our centralized voter registration system... is accurate to save time and money for mailing a ballot and is secure and integrous to prevent fraud."

The Pew Center drew attention to Oregon and Washington because they’ve worked together to  eliminate duplication from their rolls.