Voting laws a legislative concern
The coronavirus pandemic is producing a push in many states to make it easier to vote without going to polls. A version of this is underway in Oklahoma.
The state Supreme Court has been asked to allow absentee voters to return their ballots with a signed declaration that they are qualified to vote and that they marked their own ballot. Oklahoma law requires that absentee ballots be notarized.
The request by the League of Women Voters asks the court to prohibit the state Election Board from sending absentee ballot forms that say notarization is required, and instead to send ballot forms with new instructions that would carry a penalty of perjury if not followed properly.
Wisconsin's decision to hold its primary election April 7 amid the COVID19 outbreak amplified Democratic-led efforts to expand mail-in voting. A coronavirus stimulus bill included $400 million to finance mail-in and early voting (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wanted $4 billion, and likely will try again). Hillary Clinton backs allmail-in voting, with postage paid. Tom Perez, head of the Democratic National Committee, is urging states to expand mail-in voting.
The LVW request in Oklahoma followed one made by a coalition of Oklahoma health care groups and voting rights groups. Citing the pandemic, they asked Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax to ease the state's notary requirement. However, Ziriax says he doesn't have that power under the statute, contrary to the coalition's assertion.
Ziriax also argues that such late changes to the process — Oklahoma's primary election is June 30 — would disrupt the absentee voting process and confuse voters and election officials.
“This eleventh-hour demand for changes … comes barely three weeks before the federally mandated deadline to send Primary Election absentee ballots to uniformed services voters,” Ziriax said last week. “The ballot preparation and printing process is already underway.”
The requests made to the state Supreme Court followed Gov. Kevin Stitt setting June 30 as the date for voters to decide State Question 802, which proposes a full expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Critics contend Stitt, who has his own Medicaid expansion plan in the works, picked that date to hurt SQ 802's chances. However, the petition drive for SQ 802 collected a record number of signatures, indicating a strong public desire for the proposal.
The Democratic leader in the state Senate said she was concerned the choice of June 30, “when we're still trying to deal with the pandemic, was maybe not in the best interest of Oklahomans who want to exercise their constitutional right to vote.” Yet any registered voter concerned about going to the polls that day has until 5 p.m. on June 25 to request an absentee ballot.
The absentee-voting change sought here is more reasonable than many efforts seen elsewhere, but this is an issue that should be addressed by the Legislature instead of the courts.