State election system unlikely to draw concern

THE Trump administration wants states to hand over volumes of information about their registered voters. Oklahoma is among more than two dozen states that have said no to at least parts of the request, with good reason.

The administration wants names, addresses, birth dates and party affiliations of registered voters, along with felony convictions, military statuses, voting records dating to 2006, and the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers, if that data is publicly available under state law.

Trump has said illegal voting cost him the popular vote on November, when he prevailed in the Electoral College but finished nearly 3 million votes behind Democrat Hillary Clinton. Election experts have roundly dismissed the notion that so many illegal voters could have cast ballots.

Kris Korbach, the secretary of state in Kansas who is vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, says data submitted by the states will be used to “fully analyze vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting.” Officials in many states, and from both major political parties, aren’t buying it, with some saying they won’t turn over any information to the special commission formed by Trump.

Mississippi’s Republican secretary of state, for example, told the commission to “go jump in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Oklahoma officials weren’t that colorful, but did say they have no intention of providing partial Social Security numbers. Those aren’t open records, Election Board spokesman Bryan Dean noted, and thus the agency isn’t allowed to give them out.

The commission will be provided a copy of Oklahoma’s voter roll, which is a public document and is made available routinely to media organizations and political candidates.

While it’s possible that some people may have illegally registered to vote in certain instances, the commission is unlikely to find many red flags in Oklahoma. Voting machines are uniform statewide, they involve paper ballots that are retained and can be referenced if questions arise, all votes are tabulated in a secure system that’s not linked to the internet, and Oklahoma’s voter ID law has been a success.

Meantime, election officials say they will fully comply with a request from the Department of Justice, which is reviewing the procedures states use to maintain their voter registration lists. The DOJ wants to ensure that states are complying with rules spelled out in the National Voter Registration Act.

Oklahoma does a good job keeping the rolls up to date. The state uses an automated system to send address confirmation notices in odd-numbered years to inactive voters, and recipients have two months to return the confirmation mailing to the Election Board or go online to verify their address. Voters are removed from the rolls if they’re inactive for two straight general election cycles after receiving their notice.

In short, Oklahoma election officials are proud of, and highly confident in, the system in place here. It’s one that won’t provide much grist for Trump’s commission.