State Rep. Julie Parrish says she was behind thousands of automated calls to voters questioning their registration status.

The West Linn Republican said she was considering legislation on the subject and wanted to find out whether a phone call to inactive voters would spur them to restore their registration and cast a ballot for the November election.

The calls

who said they checked with local elections officials and found out they were properly registered. The Oregon secretary of state's office began looking into the "robocalls" on Friday, according to spokeswoman Andrea Cantu-Schomus.

Complaints came from 35 of Oregon's 36 counties. Only Tillamook County did not receive complaints.

Oregon political consultant Tim Trickey says his firm made the calls but incorrectly attributed them to a business group.

Trickey, who runs Northwest Market Research, insisted that the calls were made to encourage inactive voters. He said he wasn't trying to discourage anyone from voting.

Trickey, who has been active in Republican campaigns, acknowledged that the calls incorrectly said they were sponsored by the

. That group said it had nothing to do with the calls, and Trickey conceded that his firm wrongly named the group in its calls.

"Ultimately a big error was made on my part," said Trickey, adding that several groups had been involved in discussions about the robocalls and that he failed to confirm his impression that the small business association would sponsor the calls.

Parrish said she sought a sponsor to pay for the project, which she said was relatively inexpensive. Trickey said he would probably end up absorbing the cost of the calls.

Trickey said his firm sent the robocalls to 73,000 Oregonians listed as inactive voters who also had a phone number included with their voter registration records. He said they were able to reach about 42,000 households, although he acknowledged that many of the people who answered the calls could well have been active voters.

Voters can be listed as inactive if they if don't vote for five years or if it appears they have moved and have not responded to inquiries from election officials. Voters can

at oregonvotes.org or by calling their county elections office.

Trickey also insisted that the calls did not violate the state law against making automated calls to people on the federal "do not call" list because it involved political activity. The Oregon attorney general's website says that exceptions to the state law include "(p)olitical campaigns asking for your opinion or vote."

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