State responds to lawsuit over absentee voting
A lawsuit against the Oklahoma State Election Board seeking changes to the state' s absentee voting process in light of the COVID- 19 crisis “seeks to resolve a temporary problem by inventing a permanent solution,” attorneys forth estate wrote.
Vice Deputy Attorney General Ni ki Bat ta nd Assistant Attorney General Thomas Schneider asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday to toss a lawsuit filed last week by t he League of Women Voters and two Oklahomans.
Attorneys for the state responded to the lawsuit, saying changing absentee voter requirements would upend the will of Oklahoma's Legislature and voters, according to court documents.
With their eyes on the upcoming June 30 primary, the League of Women Voters is asking the state Supreme Court to prevent the State Election Board from en forcing a state law that requires absentee ballots to be notarized. Instead, the voting rights group is asking that voters be able to include on their ballot a signed statement swearing they are qualified to vote and marked their own ballot.
State attorneys pointed to Oklahoma' s voter identification law, overwhelming ly passed by voters in 2010 and upheld by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which requires voters to show a driver's license or other identification card when they vote at a polling place.
The notarization requirement is a necessary burden to ensure the security and integrity of Oklahoma elections. Because absentee voters don't have to“verify” their identity when they request a ballot, there must be security on the back end of the process, they wrote.
“Considering the history of voter fraud, the specifics of our absentee voting process, and recent legislative history, it would be absurd to now open the gates and provide for no verification for absentee ballots, but still requiring in-person voters to present a valid proof of identification," according to court documents.
As evidence of voter fraud, the response specifically cites a 2004 incident in which an Adair County man was investigated for voter fraud when a primary election was found to have an irregularly high number of absentee ballots.
The man, who was not charged with voter fraud then, but was charged with falsifying ballots for a different incident six years later, had marked and mailed back more than half of the 465 absentee ballots turned in during the 2004 primary election.
Oklahoma's Legislature specifically intended for the notarization requirement to be a requisite of absentee voting, and only the Legislature, not Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax, can relax that requirement.
“The Legislature's intent is unmistakable,” wrote attorneys for the state.
A referee for the state Supreme Court heard the case Wednesday. It is unclear when the court will make a decision in the case.
Predicting some Oklahoma voters will be nervous about casting an in- person ballot during the June 30 primary, more than 20 Oklahoma health care associations and civic engagement and voting rights groups asked Ziriax to relax the notary requirement for absentee ballots. Some notaries are limited in the number of ballots they can notarize.
Oklahomans shouldn't have to choose between their health and their right to vote, said Angela Patrick, an advanced-practice nurse who signed onto the lawsuit.
“We know this is a dangerous time, and we do not know when the danger from the coronavirus will subside," she said. "One thing we do know is that voting is a way to transmit the disease: At least 52 people tied to the recent Wisconsin primary election have tested positive for COVID-19."
June 5 is the last day to register to vote in the primary election. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is 5 p.m. on June 25. Request an absentee ballot at ok.gov/elections/Voter_Info/Absentee_Voting.