State officials don’t know why the U.S. Department of Justice will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Muskogee counties to monitor Election Day. They don’t know what polling places will be monitored or what put Oklahoma on the agency’s watch list.
State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax provided a statement that the DOJ’s stated purpose is “to monitor for compliance with the federal voting rights statutes that fall under the jurisdiction of the Civil Rights Division.”
Oklahoma and Tulsa counties are the state’s most-populated counties. However, Muskogee County has an estimated population of 66,700, about 10 times fewer people than Tulsa County.
Some Tulsa lawmakers are joining a group of Oklahoma County elected officials in raising concerns about the DOJ monitors. It’s part of the federal government’s push to dispatch 1,000 election monitors across all 50 states on Nov. 3, a number that eclipses previous elections, according to PBS.
State Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, who faces independent Tony Oliva in her re-election campaign, believes the federal action is for “political fearmongering.”
“I believe the reason is because this is political in nature and they want to intimidate voters,” Blancett said. “I think that’s what is behind this.”
The DOJ is going to find that Oklahoma has more secure elections than “49 other states,” said State Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa.
“They’re going to go back and say, ‘You know what? Everybody should do it like Oklahoma, because they do it best,’” he said.
Rader said Oklahoma conducts elections “the right way.”
“The people we have on our elections are really, really good people, and they take it seriously,” he said.
Blancett agreed with Rader that Oklahoma has one of the most secure election processes in the country.
“Talk about a waste of taxpayer money? That is absolutely a waste of taxpayer money,” Blancett said. “Because we know for a fact that Oklahoma’s elections, by virtue of multiple safeguards, are one of the most secure election processes in the entire nation.”
State Sen. Jo Anna Dossett, D-Tulsa, encouraged voters to “know your rights and exercise them.”
“If you have any concerns of any sort on Election Day, find that precinct inspector,” Dossett said. “And if you don’t know which one is the precinct inspector, just find a poll worker.”
What to know about federal election monitors at the polls
Monitors will not enter polling places or intrude on the voting process, according to Ziriax’s statement. They will carry identification, but will not outwardly identify themselves as election monitors or DOJ staff. Monitors may ask to interview voters after exiting the polling place, but participation is voluntary.
“Based on my conversation with Department of Justice officials, I expect the monitoring process to fully comply with the requirements and limitations of state law,” Ziriax said. “I see no cause for alarmism regarding this matter.”
In court filings, the DOJ said it will not send FBI or ICE agents to the polls and monitors will not act as law enforcement personnel.
State Election Board spokeswoman Misha Mohr said the agency could not confirm when the federal government last sent monitors to Oklahoma.
However, they believe it was during the 2016 elections when Texas County, located in the panhandle, reached a 5% threshold of its voting-age population as single-language Spanish speakers. That triggered a section of the Voting Rights Act that requires voting registration, ballots and other information to be provided in Spanish, in addition to bilingual poll workers.
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