Trio of bills signed to further strengthen state elections

OKLAHOMA CITY – Legislation was signed into law this week to further secure Oklahoma elections and protect legitimate voters, including military personnel serving overseas. The three bills were authored by Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, and Rep. Carl Newton, R-Cherokee.

“The Legislature passed these measures overwhelmingly to further strengthen our election and voting processes by providing more time for our military heroes to get their absentee ballots in, clarify how physically incapacitated citizens are to fill out their absentee ballots, and ensure illegals are not able to vote in our elections,” Howard said. “These are commonsense but necessary reforms, and with many important elections coming up next year, I’m glad to have them on the books to protect the integrity of our Oklahoma elections and ensure the votes of all Oklahoma citizens are properly counted.”

SB 375 specifies that primary elections will occur on the third Tuesday of June instead of the last Tuesday of June. Additionally, it moves the starting date of the candidate filing period from the second Wednesday in April to the first Wednesday. This ensures election officials have sufficient time during the 45-day window between the last primary election and the runoff to meet the federal and state deadlines to get absentee ballots to servicemen and women deployed overseas. The new law became effective upon being signed by the governor.

SB 376 clarifies that if someone signs on behalf of a physically incapacitated voter on an absentee ballot affidavit, the assistant must sign the voter’s name. There is another section on the affidavit for the assistant to sign his or her personal name. Confusion over current law wording resulted in what should have been valid ballots being discarded because they could not be traced back to the registered voter. This will go into effect Nov. 1, 2023.

SB 377, which will also become effective Nov. 1, will require the cancellation of voter registration of anyone excused from jury duty for not being a U.S. citizen. County court clerks will prepare a list each month of these individuals and submit it to their county election board secretary, who will cancel the registrations and report them to the district attorney and the U.S. attorney for that county.

The bill will also allow county election boards to re-send returned voter I.D. cards to the mailing address on file if the card has been returned to the board due to “no mail receptacle,” which occurs especially in rural areas where voters cannot or choose not to receive mail at their physical address. Voters will also now be allowed to get their voter I.D. card in person at the county election board with proof of identity.

"These measures will improve our elections, ensuring members of the military receive primary and general ballots on time and that those who are physically incapacitated have their votes counted while protecting our voter rolls from people not eligible to vote,” Newton said. “I'm glad to see these signed into law and thank Senator Howard for asking me to be the House author of this important legislation."

The bills were requested by Oklahoma State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax.

“These laws will help protect the rights of military voters, enhance the integrity of our elections, and improve service to our state’s voters. We are very appreciative of the authors’ leadership in shepherding these bills through the Senate and the House of Representatives,” Ziriax said.

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For more information, contact:  Sen. Howard: (405) 521-5612 or Brent.Howard@oksenate.gov