Okla. Admin. Code § 230:30-9-5.3

Current through Vol. 41, No. 19, June 17, 2024

Section 230:30-9-5.3 - Compliance with federal MOVE Act deadline mandatory

(a) Both Oklahoma law and the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act) require absentee ballots to be mailed or made available online not less than 45 days preceding an election involving federal offices. The law also requires that new absentee ballot applications received between 45 days preceding an election involving federal offices and the deadline for absentee ballot applications (5 p.m. Wednesday preceding the election) shall be processed and ballots mailed or "ballots available" e-mails sent within 48 hours of the receipt of the application.

(b) The County Election Board Secretary shall be responsible for confirming that all uniformed services and overseas voters with an active absentee ballot application in MESA on the date of the MOVE Act deadline have either received an e-mail notification that ballots are available online or that ballots have been mailed. The Secretary shall, before close of business on the date of the MOVE Act deadline, take the following steps to confirm compliance with the 45-day deadline.

(1) Verify that all Federal Post Card Applications received by mail or by e-mail have been entered in MESA. Check the inbox for all County Election Board e-mail accounts that may be used by uniformed services or overseas voters. Check the fax machine.

(2) Request and print both the E-mail Activity Log and the Election Date Ballot List reports in MESA to verify that every voter who should have received an e-mail notice that ballots are available online is listed. If the E-mail Activity Log lists any bounced e-mails, determine whether an e-mail was successfully delivered to an alternate e-mail address or whether mailing labels already have been created and ballots mailed.

(3) Calculate ballots and ballot labels for uniformed services and overseas voters. If the calculation reports any unprocessed ballots or labels, immediately follow the appropriate MESA instructions to generate and print the labels. Prepare the ballot packets and deliver them to the local post office as soon as possible.

(c) On the next business day following the date of the MOVE Act deadline, request and print the MOVE Act Compliance Report and compare it to the Election Date Ballot List report. Confirm that all uniformed services and overseas voters with active applications in MESA received either e-mail notification or a ballot by mail. Request and print the MOVE Act Deadline Compliance Statistics report and enter by hand the first date absentee ballots were mailed to uniformed services and overseas voters. Sign and date the report and fax or e-mail it to the State Election Board no later than 12 p.m.

(d) State law requires adherence to the MOVE Act deadline for regular or special elections for state offices and state legislative offices.

Okla. Admin. Code § 230:30-9-5.3

Adopted by Oklahoma Register, Volume 34, Issue 24, September 1, 2017, eff. 9/11/2017