Well, well. The Tulsa Whirled is going to rage, rage against the dying of the light, apparently. With Roscoe Turner's victory, their clique no longer has control of the City Council, but they aren't going down without a fight. Thus the story on this morning's front page (jump page here ), screaming about voter irregularities, and whispering threats of felony charges.
(Interesting how the Whirled avoids giving any details on the front page, because the details show how minuscule this story is.)
Two allegations have been made involving eleven people who attempted to cast absentee ballots. One doesn't involve any violation of the law, and the other only became a violation in the last eight months. There is no indication that Roscoe Turner's campaign set out to get the votes of ineligible people counted, and in fact none of these 11 people who tried to vote had their votes counted.
The first allegation is that Roscoe's wife Nancy drove a couple of voters down to the County Election Board to vote "absentee in-person". When they got there and filled out the ballot request, someone looked up their registrations and found out they were registered as Republicans. They weren't given ballots.
I suspect this came as a surprise to the voters. You would be amazed how many people don't know what their voter registration is. They registered years ago, and they almost never vote in primaries, so they think in terms of which party they normally vote for.
I would imagine that these people got a flyer placed on their front door, decided they wanted to vote for Roscoe, wanted a ride to the polls, and so they called the number on the flyer (his home phone number) and asked for a ride. If someone calls a candidate and says, "I'd like a ride to the polls so I can vote for you," the candidate is not going to ask to see a voter ID card first. The candidate is going to send someone to take that person to the polls before they can change their mind. The election board did their job and screened out two ineligible voters. No harm, no foul.
The second accusation is that Roscoe and Nancy Turner witnessed the signatures of nine absentee ballots from registered Democrats. When you send in an absentee ballot, the actual ballots are sealed in a plain opaque envelope, then that envelope goes in another one, which has an affidavit on the outside which must be notarized. Here's the applicable section of the state statutes (26 O.S. 14-108):
A. The voter shall be required to mark the ballot in ink or other manner as prescribed by the Secretary of the State Election Board; seal the ballots in the plain opaque envelope; fill out completely and sign the affidavit, such signature to be notarized at no charge by a notary public; seal the plain opaque envelope inside the envelope bearing the affidavit and return both envelopes, sealed inside the return envelope, by United States mail or by a private mail service, provided such service has delivery documentation, to the county election board. No person who is a candidate for an office on the ballot or who is the chair or treasurer of the campaign of a candidate for office or who is related within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity to a candidate on the ballot may witness any absentee ballot affidavit.B. The ballot shall not be notarized by any person whose name appears on the ballot as a candidate or by any campaign chairperson or campaign treasurer for a candidate whose name appears on the ballot.
This law was changed twice in the last year. Prior to August 29, 2003, the law read as follows:
The voter shall be required to mark his or her ballot in ink or other manner as prescribed by the Secretary of the State Election Board; seal the ballots in the plain opaque envelope; fill out completely and sign the affidavit, such signature to be notarized at no charge by a notary public; seal the plain opaque envelope inside the envelope bearing the affidavit and return both envelopes, sealed inside the return envelope, by United States mail or by a private mail service, provided such service has delivery documentation, to the county election board.
So the last time Roscoe Turner ran for office, it was legal for a candidate, close relative, or campaign official to witness or notarize absentee ballots. I understand that the instructions that accompany absentee ballots have not been updated to reflect the change in the law. Again, none of these nine ballots, cast by legitimate, registered Democrat voters, were counted. No harm, no foul.
A cynical observer might think that this ado about nothing is a convenient way to deflect attention from the more serious lapses (and see here and here) that led to this special election.
