OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – KFOR spoke with Sen. James Lankford Wednesday morning to discuss the RESPONSE Act, including restrictions on voting and voter registration, and the importance of protecting married women’s ability to vote, as well as the security of Oklahoma elections.
“We want all Americans to vote,” Lankford said.
We specifically asked him about the SAVE Act. It comes as the federal government pushes for more restrictions on voting and voter registration. This includes proving you are a U.S. citizen and canceling some mail-in ballots.
There are also concerns that the bill would prevent some people, particularly women, from voting because they take their husband’s surname.
“So, yes, we want to make sure that married women who have had their names changed are able to go through the same process. That’s part of the amendment process that we’re working on right now to be able to protect the ability to get a verified mail-in ballot as well as the voter’s identity,” Lankford said.
Senator Lankford speaks to News 4 ahead of Mullin confirmation hearing
At one point, he commented that someone told a judge they couldn’t serve on a jury because they weren’t a U.S. citizen, yet the same person was still listed on the electoral roll.
“Not too long ago, in Oklahoma, we cleaned up the voter rolls and separated out people who were on jury duty, and when they were on jury duty, they went to the judge and said under oath, ‘Hey, I can’t serve on the jury because I’m not a U.S. citizen,’ so they were excused from jury duty. But when they were checked, the names on the voter rolls were the same, they were registered to vote, and if someone took an oath, they were not a citizen, but they were registered to vote, and we took their name, it was not false,” Lankford said Wednesday morning about the SAVINGS Act.
It should be noted that an Oklahoma statute requires the maintenance of voter rolls, among other procedures.
Since the law took effect in October 2023, state records show 40 names have been removed after jury duty was lifted. Note that this is only a portion of the more than 2 million registered voters across the state.
“By the way, our elections in Oklahoma are very secure,” Lankford said.
State Board of Elections Secretary Paul Ziriax sent News 4 a statement, which can be found in full below.
In Oklahoma, it is a serious crime for an unqualified applicant to register to vote under oath. Although the number of violations is small, we have successfully used laws enacted by state legislatures to arrest these individuals and turn them over to federal and state prosecutors. The process you are asking about is in addition to other robust voter roll maintenance procedures that election officials perform on a regular basis.
Paul Ziriax, Secretary of the State Board of Elections
Nationally, the Justice Department has requested access to election records across the country. They sued states that refused to hand over, including Oklahoma.
According to the Democracy Docket publication, the Justice Department found “dozens” of instances of non-citizen voting in states that have turned over voter registration and roll information, but that was among the nearly 700 million votes cast in the past five national elections.
It should also be noted that jurors can be selected through voter lists, but also through driver’s license and state ID lists. The Brennan Center for Justice also did some research on noncitizen voting and found here.
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