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Spirit of voting law abused
David Gerard, Muskogee Daily Phoenix & Times-Democrat
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is looking into possible absentee voting irregularities in Adair County.
Investigators are reviewing the actions of Darryl Cates, who says he assisted in obtaining 700 absentee ballots for absentee voters and helping return many of them to the county Election Board for last month's primary. The Election Board secretary reported Cates notarized 264 of 465 mailed-in primary absentee ballots.
The OSBI probe is seeing whether Cates simply assisted absentee voters or may have influenced the election of certain candidates because, as Cates has stated, he encouraged absentee voters to vote for certain candidates. Cates said he expected to receive payment in return for his "work."
Opportunities for absentee balloting were expanded about 10 years ago to make the process easier for legitimate absentee voters. The changes included in-person absentee voting to make voting more convenient for regular voters.
So, for instance, before the upcoming runoff on Aug. 24, voters can vote at their county election board between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 20, or between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 21, or between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23.
But just because voting was made more convenient, that is no excuse for abuse, and what is going on in Adair County appears to be an abuse.
Before one investigation is completed, Cates already has been allowed to pick up 50 absentee ballot applications for the runoff. Undoubtedly, this action leaves open the possibility of losing candidates contesting the elections in court and they can conceivably blame Cates' work for their loss.
The absentee voting law was written to allow the physically incapacitated to receive help in obtaining an absentee ballot and getting it back to the election board. It was written to make voting more convenient for voters.
It was not passed so that someone with a monetary interest in race could influence the decision of voters. Assisting someone with absentee voting because you are about seeing he or she gets a chance to vote is one thing, a noble action.
Showing an absentee voter a ballot marked with your candidates and asking the voter to please vote that way, as Cates has been doing, is something else all together.
It may be as state Senate candidate Todd Hembree says, nothing illegal, but it is not following the spirit of the law. And now that we see the abuse, legislators need to pass a law to see this election abuse ends.
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