Election Bills To Watch in the 2025 Oklahoma Legislative Session
We have more bills this legislative session than any session since 2022.
by Wendi Montgomery Dial, Deputy State Director Restore Liberty Oklahoma
*Updated to include three more bills to watch as the session gets underway; HB 1010, HB 1007, and HB 1005.
This legislative session in Oklahoma is gearing up to be a very busy one on the election integrity front. While the country is breathing a collective sigh of relief that the popular choice for President is now certified and has been inaugurated as our 47th President, there is still much work to be done in Oklahoma to secure our elections. There are, as of this writing, 23 bills that have been introduced this 60th legislative session to address the issue of election integrity, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.
Thanks to Don Spencer of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association for sharing these bills in a mutual chat group.
Let’s dive right in.
First of all there is a group called Oklahoma United that is attempting to get SQ 835 on the ballot for the 2026 general election. SQ 835 would open Oklahoma’s primary elections to a free for all, and poses, ultimately, a threat to the national electoral college should enough states destroy their party structures in favor of choosing their presidential electors in a majority vote system that rids itself of party labels. I discussed this a couple of months ago when this group made their intentions known to gather signatures for SQ 835 in an effort to have it placed on the ballot in 2026. Our founders determined, rightly, I believe, that majority tyranny was to be avoided at all costs due to the inability of majority rule to secure our individual rights bestowed on humanity by God. This also appears to be a backdoor way to institute a type of ‘ranked choice’ voting and allow one ideology to dominate a state’s elections and lawmakers in the absence of free and fair elections. Oklahoma voters must not allow this to pass.
Bills that should not be passed:
HB 1116, Stewart. This bill would introduce automatic voter registration upon renewal of a driver’s license. It would also automatically register minors as soon as they receive their adult driver’s license at 18. This article by Seth Keshel points out that in the 2020 election the states with automatic voter registration vote blue and the states without vote red. This bill would bloat our already inflated voter rolls. Rating? Ugly.
SB 1086, Gollihare. This bill restricts public access to voter registration rolls. This would make election integrity efforts much harder. The rolls are available to the public right now without restriction. This bill also strikes non-citizens from the voter rolls, which is a much needed provision. Rating? Ugly.
SB 129, Kirt. This bill would increase the days of in person absentee voting to 14 calendar days. The goal in order to achieve secure elections is to have all elections conducted on one day, Election Day, as the US Constitution requires. Rating? Ugly.
SB 214, Goodwin. This bill changes the date of special elections and forces the governor to make the call for a special election within a specific time frame. This also takes State questions out of the general elections where they would have more votes and puts them in a special election where they would have little attention and very little participation, a hypothetical election manipulator’s dream scenario. State questions that amend the constitution would be included in this. We need more voter participation, not less, especially for important questions that would amend our state constitution. This, along with SQ 835, would further erode election security. Rating? Bad.
SB 273, Boren. This bill would add 2 days to Early Voting and also add polling places for the practice, 1 polling place for every 15,000 voters. This also adds local law enforcement to the sheriff’s duties carried out during elections. This is not a good idea, in my opinion, because local law enforcement officers are not elected by the people. The people can directly hold the sheriff’s department accountable at the ballot box for their conduct during our elections. Rating? Bad.
SB 147, Pederson. This bill mandates post election audits after each elections. The parameters of these audits would be determined by the State Election Board. Currently Oklahoma conducts risk limiting audits randomly after elections. The problem with these audits is that they do not check the authenticity of the actual ballots being run through the machines for counting. Rating? Bad.
SB 654, Paxton. This bill removes notarizing too many ballots from the definition of ballot harvesting, a felony, plus makes it far more difficult to prosecute a notary for breaking the law and notarizing over twenty ballots by introducing language regarding intent. This renders Oklahoma law against a notary witnessing over 20 ballots per election essentially useless. Rating? Ugly.
HB 1985, Ranson. This bill would make straight party voting illegal and require voters to fill out their individual choices for all ballot races and measures. In my opinion, this is a violation of the First Amendment and controls speech, potentially violating the US Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution. Rating? Bad.
SB 962, Haste. This bill increases fees for all recounts of elections. There would be penalties if irregularities are not proven in a court of law to a judge. This bill introduces a non legal term called ‘statutory informalities’ which it claims are not to be considered when determining whether or not irregularities exist in a race. This bill has a high probability of being ruled unconstitutional, in my opinion, for Oklahomans have a guarantee to a redress of grievances in our court system and there should be no obstacles to this right of citizens, especially monetary.
SB 525, Boren. This bill would add unelected members of law enforcement to the process of securing elections and provide training for those officers. In my opinion this may begin to take the security out of the hands of an elected county sheriff and place it in the hands of unelected law enforcement officials that are not directly accountable to the people. Rating? Bad.
HB 1010, Jenkins. This bill would charge a political party for all costs of the state for their candidates being on the ballot of a primary election IF the delegates to the party’s national convention cast their votes for someone other than the candidate who received the vote of the state. Rating? Bad. This holds the party accountable for the actions of a few people and doesn’t give flexibility to the party should something happen between the primary and the convention date.
Bills that should be passed or that will enhance election security:
HB1151, Banning. This bill moves school board elections to existing primary and general election dates. It also changes the terms to four years for all school board members. It resets the official terms and elections to an amended and uniform schedule after November of 2025. Rating? Good.
SB 834, Bullard. This bill prohibits open and jungle primaries in Oklahoma with penalties that include voiding the elections that are held with an open primary. Rating? Good.
HB1120, Lepak. This bill would prohibit the Secretary of the State Election Board or any other county secretary of an election board from implementing any new federal guidance or directives without the prior approval from the State Legislature. It requires the Legislature to approve any new federal funds used in our elections. The problem with this bill is that it requires a change to our Constitution, Article 3 Section 5, to allow the legislature to take any federal money for our elections. Rating? It looks good, but it reinforces the idea that taking federal money for our elections is permissible under our state constitution. It’s a bad bill that should pass in lieu of any constitutional amendment.
SB 652, Paxton. This bill restricts the calendar dates that a special election may be called. This would mean that more special elections would be held with regular elections and ensure a higher turnout. Rating? Good.
SB 659, Deevers. This bill would require that state agencies verify US citizenship and Oklahoma residency of anyone before giving them voter registration materials. This bill contains a penalty of a fine not to exceed $5,000 and sets the violation at a misdemeanor. Rating? Good.
SB 536, Howard. This is a bill related to the duties of the assistant secretary of the county election board and adds to the provisions of that role. Rating? Good.
HB 2191, Wolfley. This bill would require notaries to turn over their logs as public record if they apply for an exemption to be able to lawfully notarize more than 20 ballots in any election. It makes notarizing over 20 ballots without permission from the secretary of their county election board. A violation would be considered a misdemeanor and punishable by a $500 fine. Rating? Good.
SB 1116, Sacchieri. This bill would require any State Question or proposal sent to voters to include conspicuous language if the passage of the proposal would result in a tax increase on the citizens. Rating? Good.
SB 990, Coleman. This is a bill that establishes a mechanism for recall elections in statewide races in Oklahoma. Recommended amendment would be to include representatives, senators, and those elected by special election. Rating? Good.
SB 735, Deevers. This bill sets up a requirement for each county election board secretary to submit annually a report to the state election board, as well as a requirement for the state election board to report to the legislature and governor, of their efforts to maintain the voter registration rolls of the state. Rating? Good. In my opinion the goal should be to eliminate voter rolls entirely.
HB 1005, Olsen. This bill would require Service Oklahoma to develop a photo ID voter registration card that would be offered free to certain registered voters. Rating? Good.
HB 1007, Olsen. This bill would not allow an ID issued by an educational institution to be used as a valid form of identification to vote. Rating? Good.
Revision
SB953, Deevers. This is a bill that creates the Election Integrity Enforcement Act which authorizes District Attorneys to initiate civil actions on behalf of voters within their respective judicial districts in cases of alleged election irregularities or fraud. Rating? Excellent.
Let’s hope that this legislative session is productive for the cause of election integrity in the state of Oklahoma. We cannot become complacent in the cause to uphold the rights of every citizen to free and fair elections in this state or across the nation.
Please share this article with your representatives and senators and ask them to engage on the topic of election integrity and to support the good bills that you prefer and to vote against the bills that you don’t.
Don’t forget to download the Oklahoma Legislature app for your phone that has the lists of all the reps and senators, their committees, their office phone numbers and email addresses. It allows for easy contact with Oklahoma State Lawmakers.
May God continue to bless our state and our nation.
Thank you for your continuing support and subscription to Restore Liberty Oklahoma. Due to the dissolution of the national group Restore Liberty, we are now an independent publication and the articles will continue to be free to every subscriber. - Wendi Montgomery Dial, editor.