Absentee voting surged in the primaries, and one party had an especially big mail-in 'turnout'

And going into the Nov. 3 vote, the Republican Party may be playing catch up with the Democratic Party, if the results of the June primary are any indication.

Whether it was COVID-19, the temporary waiving of a notary requirement or some combination with other factors, mail-in balloting was a hit in the state primary election, especially with Democrats.

A Tulsa World analysis of primary results found that one in five Democratic Party primary voters mailed in their ballots for the June 30 vote.

About 8% of Republican voters, meanwhile, mailed in their primary ballots under state absentee balloting rules temporarily in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overall, 14% of all ballots counted on State Question 802, the ballot measure that expanded Medicaid, were mailed in to county election boards.

For comparison purposes, about 4.5% of voters in the November 2018 general election cast a mailed in ballot.

Absentee balloting has even drawn the attention of President Donald Trump, who has railed against mail-in voting in states run by Democrat governors, claiming without evidence that it could lead to increased voter fraud.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Oklahoma law generally required most mailed-in ballots to include a voter signature that is notarized by a notary public.

However, amid COVID-19 pandemic concerns, a law in effect for this year only has permitted voters to bypass the notary requirement if they sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury and include a copy of suitable photo identification along with their marked ballot.

To vote by mail without a notary, the law requires the governor to have declared a COVID-19-related state of emergency 45 days prior to an election or is declared within 45 days of an election.

So far, Stitt has extended the COVID-related state of emergency so that it waived the notary requirement for both the primary and the Aug. 25 runoff election. As it stands now, though, the state of emergency will expire in mid-September absent another extension.

Democrats, a party pushing for eliminating the notary requirement during the pandemic, accounted for about 55% of all the mailed-in June 30 primary ballots despite accounting for about 34.5% of registered voters in the state.

Republicans, who make up 49% of the registered state voters, accounted for 34% of the mailed in ballots, the analysis showed.

For many on both sides of the political aisle, the pandemic ushered in a change in voting patterns.

Nearly two out of every three primary voters who mailed in their ballots voted in person during the last election in which they cast a ballot, the analysis shows.

The switch from in-person to mail-in balloting was even more acute among Democratic Party voters. About 77% of Democrats mailing in their primary ballots voted in person the last election in which they voted.

Among GOP primary voters, about 60% of those mailing in their ballots cast in-person ballots in the last election in which they voted.

The leaders of both major state political parties said this week that absentee balloting would be a major focus of their campaigns this summer and fall.

Republican State Party Chairman David McLain said in an interview that his party is placing an emphasis on increasing the number of mail-in absentee ballots for the general election.

“It’s going to be a very large push from the Oklahoma Republican Party,” McLain said. He said as part of the push, voters will be asked to return their marked ballots as soon as possible.

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Alicia Andrews said her party made a big push to increase absentee voting prior to the June 30 primary.

Andrews said she believes President Donald Trump’s opposition to so-called universal mail-in voting may have played a part in lower absentee voting rates in the primary among Republicans.

“When the leader of your party tells you that it’s ripe with fraud and not a good idea, yeah, I think it would probably sway your decision in whether or not you do it,” Andrews said.

Meanwhile, the head of the League of Women Voters of Oklahoma called upon Gov. Kevin Stitt this week to spell out the rules for absentee voting in the November general election.

Absent another extension of the health emergency, mail-in voting requirements will revert back to the pre-pandemic rule, which requires absentee ballots to include notarized voter signatures.

League of Women Voters of Oklahoma President Jan Largent said they have already been receiving requests from voters who are confused about the upcoming general election for mail-in absentee ballots.

“We would just like a clear plan so we’ll know how to move forward with instructing voters and helping voters,” Largent said.

The League, Largent said, would prefer the COVID-19-related state of emergency declaration be extended to permit voters to bypass the notary option if they choose and send in a copy of either their voter ID, driver’s license or other approved identification.

“I don’t think anyone expects that the pandemic is going to go away in another month or two, so the conditions are still the same, if not worse,” Largent said.

Stitt’s office did not respond to a request for comment regarding the League’s request.

Under the emergency declaration, regular absentee ballots may be cast by including either a notarized affidavit as normally required, or a copy of suitable identification and an affidavit signed by the voter.

Largent said the league opposed the ID requirement, calling it a hindrance.

“When you just look at it on the surface, it looks like a good option; but then when you take into account that many people don’t have printers and might have to get out and get their ID printed, and there’s a cost, even though it is a minimal cost, it was a cost for a lot of people,” Largent said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the state Democratic Party continue to press a civil rights lawsuit over absentee balloting requirements in Tulsa federal court.

The two groups sued Oklahoma Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax and members of the state Election Board in May on a number of absentee balloting fronts.

Among its requests to a judge hearing the case is a request to declare notary, witness and photo ID requirements as “an undue burden on the right to vote in violation of the First and 14th Amendments.

Chief U.S. District Judge John Dowdell, who is assigned the case, on Tuesday denied a request from the defendants to dismiss the lawsuit on improper venue grounds. He also declined to transfer the case to Oklahoma City federal court.

Dowdell has scheduled an Aug. 26 hearing on the request for injunctive relief from the two Democratic Party groups.

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