States Get Real About Election Integrity, With Oklahoma Leading the Charge
No more playing games. When it comes to safeguarding election integrity, states are putting their foot down and Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma is leading the charge. If you’ve been biting your nails over secure elections, here’s something to give you relief – Stitt has announced the removal of a whopping 453,000 ineligible voter registrations since 2021 from his state. Folks, this ain’t just routine cleaning up; we’re talking about a dedicated effort to sanitize Oklahoma’s voter rolls and make sure only those who have the right are casting votes.
Clearing the Decks: Making Way for Fair Elections
Per Stitt’s office, this cleanup drive swept off 97,065 voters no longer with us (that’s right, deceased), 143,682 folks who’ve moved out of state (but left their voting rights behind), 5,607 convicted felons (you read that right), 14,993 duplicate registrations (because one vote per citizen should be enough), and a staggering 194,962 inactive voters who were shown the door during an address verification process. The governor’s office message is loud and clear: Oklahoma ain’t kidding around when it comes to setting national standards in election integrity. “All Oklahomans want to know their vote counts and counts right,” said Stitt hitting home on why clean elections matter.
A Herculean Effort in Voter List Maintenance
This isn’t just some random act of cleanliness; it’s part of regular voter list maintenance as required by law. Let’s not sugarcoat it – clearing nearly half a million ineligible voters off the records is no walk in the park. For far too long now, our nation’s voter rolls have been stuffed with names of those who’re no longer with us, have shifted base or are simply not qualified to vote. Such inaccuracies open the floodgates to potential election fraud. So, seeing a state roll up its sleeves and get down to work is indeed a breath of fresh air.
Keeping the Rolls Clean: Just One Piece of the Puzzle
This mass cleanup isn’t Oklahoma’s only ace up its sleeve for election security. Stitt’s Campaign Finance and Election Threats Task Force has been burning the midnight oil evaluating the state’s voting system and making critical recommendations – some of which are already law. For instance, ranked-choice voting? Banned. Mandatory post-election audits? Implemented. All this to ensure every vote counts and counts right.
Oklahoma Goes Old-School with Paper Ballots
And guess what else Oklahoma is doing right? Sticking to good ol’ hand-marked paper ballots that are scanned by e-scan tabulators – machines that can’t be tampered with because they aren’t hooked up online. The state’s election officials have teamed up with Oklahoma Cyber Command to fend off potential threats while recounts and audits consistently reaffirm the reliability of Oklahoma’s voting system.
Setting Standards in Election Integrity
Governor Stitt alongside Secretary of State Josh Cockroft have sent out a strong message – for Oklahoma, elections must be secure, accurate, and transparent above all else. From implementing voter ID laws to banning ballot harvesting, Oklahoma is setting a standard in election integrity that other states should take notes from. If secure elections matter to you (and they should), keep an eye on what’s happening in Sooner State.
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