Oklahoma 2022 2022 Regular Session

Oklahoma House Bill HB3321 Engrossed / Bill

Filed 03/24/2022

                     
 
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ENGROSSED HOUSE 
BILL NO. 3321 	By: Miller and Roe of the House 
 
   and 
 
  Stanley of the Senate 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[ elections - requiring ballots be printed on paper - 
prohibiting connection of devices to Internet – 
 	emergency ] 
 
 
 
 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF TH E STATE OF OKLAHOMA: 
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified 
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 6-104.1 of Title 26, unless 
there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: 
All ballots used for any election shall be printed on paper to 
ensure a fair and accurate count; provided, each precinct polling 
place and in-person absentee voting location shall provid e a means 
for a blind or visually impaired voter to cast a ballot privately 
and independently, in a manner to be determined by the Secretary of 
the State Election Board. 
SECTION 2.    AMENDATORY    26 O.S. 2021, Section 7-130, is 
amended to read as follows :   
 
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Section 7-130.  Any candidate or any recognized political party 
shall be entitled to have a watcher present at any place where an 
official count is being conducted.  Such watcher must be 
commissioned in writing by the candidate, or by the chair of the 
recognized political party of th e county in which the watcher is 
being authorized.  Such commission must be filed with the secretary 
of the appropriate county election board no later than 5:00 p.m. on 
Wednesday preceding t he election.  Watchers must subscribe to an 
oath to observe all la ws and rules prescribed for watchers as 
hereinafter provided.  Such oath must be administered by the 
inspector of the precinct in which the watcher is autho rized.  
Watchers shall be entitled to observe the voting device both before 
the polls are opened and after the polls are closed; provided, 
further, that such watchers shall not be present at the polling 
place at other times.  Watchers may be commissioned t o observe 
voting device testing an d to accompany personnel assigned to repair 
or maintain machines d uring the period of the election.  In s uch 
case, the watchers shall be limited to observing the repair or 
maintenance work being performed and making a writ ten record of such 
work.  All watchers shall only appear in person and the use of 
watchers via electronic devices is prohibited.  Any watcher who 
violates the law prescribed for watchers shall be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor.   
 
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SECTION 3.    NEW LAW     A new section of la w to be codified 
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 9-121 of Title 26, unless there 
is created a duplication in nu mbering, reads as follows: 
Devices or equipment us ed by the State Election Board or a 
county election board to count or tabulate ballots shal l be 
prohibited from connecting to the Internet.  Provided, this shall 
not serve to prohibit a secure network conne ction between the State 
Election Board and a count y election board for the purpose of 
transmitting or recei ving voter registration or electio n-related 
data. 
SECTION 4.     AMENDATORY     26 O.S. 2021, Section 14 -101.1, is 
amended to read as follows: 
Section 14-101.1 A.  For the purposes of this section, 
"absentee ballot harvesting " means: 
1.  Collecting or obtaining an absent ee ballot from another 
person with the intent to submit, transmit or return the ballot to 
election officials on behalf of that person; 
2.  Submitting, returning or t ransmitting an absentee ballot to 
election officials on b ehalf of another person; 
3.  Collecting or obtaining an absentee b allot from another 
person under a false pretense or promise of transm itting, returning 
or submitting it to election officials on beha lf of that person; 
4.  Requesting or receiving an absente e ballot on behalf of 
another person;   
 
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5.  Distributing an absentee ballot application or request to a 
voter using the official letterhead of a candid ate or elected 
official; 
6. Partially or fully co mpleting an application for an absentee 
ballot on behalf of another person without that person's prior 
consent; or 
6. 7.  Notarizing or witnessing more absentee ballots t han 
allowed by law. 
B. Absentee ballot harvesting shall be unlawful at any election 
conducted by a county election board, the State Election Board or 
any political subdivision of this state; provided, the following 
shall not be deemed to be ballot harvest ing: 
1.  A voter's assistant or agent acting pursuant to law as 
otherwise allowed by T itle 26 of the Oklahoma Statutes this title; 
2.  An absentee voting board member, as described in Title 26 of 
the Oklahoma Statutes this title, who assists a voter confined to a 
nursing home or veterans center pursuant to law; 
3.  An employee of the Federal Voting Assistance Pr ogram, the 
United States Department of Defense or the Oklahoma National Guard 
who assists a uniformed-services voter in returning or transmitting 
an absentee ballot; 
4.  A spouse, relative in the first or second degree of 
consanguinity or affinity or cohab itant of a voter who forwards an 
absentee ballot to the voter when absent from the home;   
 
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5. A voter's spouse who, with the voter 's consent, returns the 
voter's absentee ballot by mail; or 
6.  An official action by an election official that is required 
or authorized by law. 
SECTION 5.     AMENDATORY     26 O.S. 2021, Section 16-123, is 
amended to read as follows: 
Section 16-123. A.  The Secretary of the State Election Boa rd 
or any county election board who has documents that appear to be 
evidence of voter registration or voting crimes shall not ify the 
district attorney for the county or counties involved and the Office 
of the Attorney General . 
B.  When presented with docum entation of possible voter 
registration or voting crimes by the Secr etary of the State Election 
Board or any county election board, a district attorney shall 
investigate and, within thirty (30) days and each thirty (30) days 
thereafter following receipt of such documentation, report in 
writing to the Secretary of the State Election Board or county 
election board the status of th e investigation until charges are 
filed or the district attorney declines to file charges. 
SECTION 6.     AMENDATORY     26 O.S. 2021, Section 21-101, is 
amended to read as follows: 
Section 21-101. A.  The Secretary of the State Election Board 
is hereby authorized beginning Ju ly 1, 1989, to purchase equipment 
for and implement a unitary, unified, integrated system o f election   
 
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administration for the State of Oklahoma that includes an electronic 
data processing system for maintenance of vot er registration 
records, certification o f election results and other 
election-related applications, and the installation of electro nic, 
optical scanning voting devices compatible with the same system in 
every precinct polling place. 
B.  The Secretary of th e State Election Board is authorized to 
adopt procedures consistent, insofar as practicab le, with existing 
law for implementation o f the system. 
C.  Except as provided in subsection A, no electronic data 
processing applications shall be implemented by a co unty election 
board, nor shall voting de vices be purchased by a county, except for 
those electronic data processing applications an d voting devices 
already in use or for which a contract had been signed by no later 
than March 31, 1986. 
D.  A new unitary integrated voting system described in 
subsection A of this section that is implemented on or after January 
1, 2023, shall be required to report the officia l election returns 
of each election by precinct , including, but not limited to, all 
votes cast in person and by absentee. 
SECTION 7.  It being immediately necessary for the preservation 
of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby 
declared to exist, by reason wh ereof this act shall take effect and 
be in full force from and a fter its passage and approval.   
 
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Passed the House of Representatives the 23rd day of March, 2022. 
 
 
 
  
 	Presiding Officer of the Hous e 
 	of Representatives 
 
 
Passed the Senate the ___ day of __________, 2022. 
 
 
 
  
 	Presiding Officer of the Senate