TRANSCRIPT
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Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider - taking you inside politics, policy, and government in Oklahoma. I'm Dick Pryor with Quorum Call publisher, Shawn Ashley. And our guest is State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax. As always, Paul, it's good to have you with us.
Paul Ziriax: It's a privilege. I always enjoy being on and love listening to you guys every week. Thanks for having me.
Dick Pryor: Thank you.
Shawn Ashley: Well, Paul, the three-day filing period for this year's election cycle ended April 3rd. A total of 611 candidates filed for federal, state, legislative, and judicial offices. How does that compare to previous years?
Paul Ziriax: Well, we only look back 25 years. We were a little bit busy last week, but if you go back 25 years, it's the second largest number of filers at a single state and federal candidate filing period, except for the 2018 filing period which was in the middle of the teacher walkout when there were tens of thousands of people on the Capitol campus here. And I think many of them were encouraging others to run, but 611 is higher than normal. And, you know, I'm very pleased at the number of who have been willing to stand before the voters and let the voters make decisions. That's what democracy's all about.
Dick Pryor: It is encouraging and this is a statewide election year. When is the primary election and what do people need to know about being registered in time for it?
Paul Ziriax: So, the primary election is June 16th and there are Republican and Democratic statewide primaries on that date. Those wishing to vote in one of those primaries who aren't registered have until May 22nd to do so. It's already too late to switch your party if you want to vote in that. But I would mention even if you're not a registered Republican or Democrat, State Question 832 is on the ballot, and every voter gets to vote on state questions. So, whether you are Republican and Democrat and also have primaries, if you're a Libertarian or Independent, you need to show up on June 16th and make sure you vote on the state question. It's an important one.
Shawn Ashley: How does party registration break down at this point?
Paul Ziriax: So, the trends over the years have shown that Independents have been the fastest growing segment, Republicans have generally been growing. I believe the Libertarians are nearly at 1%. But as of the end of March, we had more than 2.4 million registered voters in Oklahoma, about 1,287,000 of those were Republicans, 612,000 and change were Democrats, 495,000 were Independents, and the Libertarians are now over 23,000. So, they, they're growing.
Dick Pryor: Democrats have allowed Independents to vote in their primary election. Will that happen this year?
Paul Ziriax: Uh, not this year. Political parties that are recognized may allow Independents to vote in their primaries, but there's a window in November of odd numbered years where the parties are required to notify me as the State Election Board secretary that they wish to have Independents vote in their partisan primaries and runoffs. Uh, none of the recognized political parties in Oklahoma took the steps required to make that happen. So, Independents actually don't vote in the party primaries. But as I mentioned, we have a state question in June and from what I hear at the legislature we will probably have state questions in August so there will be plenty for Independents to vote on in those two upcoming elections.
Shawn Ashley: Well, with that in mind, let's talk about that August election and the possibility of those state questions. You mentioned in June that Libertarians and Independents can vote on State Question 832, which would raise the minimum wage. Will that be the case if there are state questions on the August ballot?
Paul Ziriax: Yes. State questions are nonpartisan elections. And so any voter, regardless of your party affiliation or in the case of an Independent, no affiliation, you're allowed to vote in those state question elections. And as I said, based on from what I'm hearing at the state legislature, Shawn - I'm sure you're hearing the same thing - I anticipate that there will be several state questions that land on the August runoff ballot.
Dick Pryor: Are there any new election security and integrity measures in place this year that we did not see in 2024?
Paul Ziriax: In Oklahoma, we take election security very seriously. In my opinion, Oklahoma leads the nation in election integrity measures. And our legislature has done a lot of good things over the years. And, you know, at the Election Board, we don't make the laws. We follow the laws. But the legislature has given us some good tools. There's not a lot that's brand new this year for voters. You know, you still need to remember that if you're going to request an absentee ballot, there's a process for doing that. And you'll have to provide the identification number that you used when you signed up to vote, when you registered to vote. Also, if you vote in person, you'll need to show a photo ID, generally speaking. Although, if don't have one of those, you can show your voter ID card issued to you by your county election board or cast a provisional ballot if you don't either of those.
Shawn Ashley: Under pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Gentner Drummond reached an agreement to provide voter roll information to the federal government from Oklahoma. What information is being provided? Who's getting it and how are they going to use that?
Paul Ziriax: So, I would refer questions about the settlement itself to the Attorney General's office, but I'll tell you that the Attorney General did negotiate with the Department of Justice, and I think found a workable solution that was kind of a middle ground. Really, all along Oklahoma was willing to cooperate with the federal government's request for this. It was just a question of whether our state law that requires last four digits of Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers associated with voter registration records were required to be kept confidential even when the federal government requested those. So, my counsel all along is the office of the Attorney General - and I've followed their advice every step of the way - they negotiated a settlement that they said was consistent with both state and federal law, and so that's why we initiated that settlement.
Dick Pryor: How do people find election information and when, where, and how to vote?
Paul Ziriax: I tell you what, the best place is to go to the State Election Board website, oklahoma.gov/elections. Oklahoma.gov/elections. You can find out everything you'd want to know about registering to vote, where to vote and anything else you want to about Oklahoma elections it’s there. I highly recommend it.
Dick Pryor: It is a very good site. Thank you, Paul, and good luck this year.
Paul Ziriax: Thank you, Dick. Thank you, Shawn. I appreciate the opportunity to be on.
Dick Pryor: You bet. That's State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax. For more information go to quorumcall.online. You can find video of Capitol Insider segments on the KGOU You Tube channel. Audio and transcripts are at KGOU.org and look for Capitol Insider where you get podcasts. Until next time, with Shawn Ashley, I'm Dick Pryor.
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