Federal monitors to observe elections in three Oklahoma counties

OKLAHOMA CITY – Three Oklahoma counties will have an extra set of eyes when voters go to the polls Nov. 3.

The U.S. Department of Justice notified the Oklahoma State Election Board this month that it will be sending monitors to Tulsa, Oklahoma and Muskogee counties.

The agency will be monitoring compliance with federal voting rights laws, including the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Voting Accessibility for Elderly and Handicapped Act. 

They also check for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Tulsa and Oklahoma counties are the state’s two most populous counties with a combined population of 1.5 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Just under 67,000 residents live in Muskogee County. The federal agency did not indicate why the three counties were selected.

“As the Civil Rights Division has done in the past, our monitors only observe,” wrote Jake T. Bachand, an attorney with the agency, in an email to the three counties that was provided to Oklahoma Voice. 

“They do not intrude or interfere in any way,” Bachand wrote.

Monitors will follow state law, not enter any polling place, and not intrude on the voting process, said State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax.

They will carry identification, but not outwardly identify themselves, he said.

Monitors may seek to interview voters after they leave the polling place, but participation is voluntary, Ziriax said.

“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.”

U.S. Department of Justice monitors have notified other states that they will be observing, according to NPR. Those states include Colorado, Michigan, Utah, Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Washington.

According to the agency’s website, it sent monitors to several states during the primary election, including Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Florida, Wyoming, South Carolina and Rhode Island.

Oklahoma election officials said federal monitors were in the state in 2016 or 2018 to monitor an election in Texas County, a county of about 20,000 people in the state’s Panhandle.