SECTION 230:15-11-10. Statewide cancellation of true duplicate registrations

(a)   No later than June 1 of each odd-numbered year, the Secretary of the State Election Board shall initiate a process to identify voters with duplicate voter registrations in one or more counties in Oklahoma. [26:4-120.2(c)] The process in MESA shall examine and compare all voter registration records in the state to identify the true duplicate registrations. The true duplicates shall be identified by one of the following criteria.

(1)   There is a match of first name, middle name or initial, last name, and date of birth.

(2)   There is a match of driver license number, first name, and date of birth.

(3)   There is a match of last name, date of birth, and the last four digits of the Social Security number.

(b)   Following identification of true duplicates, the individual records in each set of duplicate records shall be examined to determine which of the duplicate registrations is the most recent. The date of original registration, voter history, and voter activity all shall be examined and considered. The most recent registration record in each set of duplicate registrations shall be retained and all other registration records shall be cancelled. [26:4-120.2(c)]

(c)   MESA shall format for each county a report listing the names of voters in the county whose registration records have been cancelled. The Secretary of the County Election Board shall be required to print the True Duplicates Deleted Report immediately when it is formatted. County Election Board personnel shall use the True Duplicates Deleted Report to remove the registration forms for the cancelled true duplicate voters from the Central File. The date and reason for cancellation shall be noted on the voter registration form, and any documentation in the Additional Information file also shall be removed. The registration forms and any additional information shall be filed in the Cancellation File and shall be retained there for 24 months. The True Duplicates Deleted Report shall be retained for 24 months. [26:4-120.2(c)]

(d)   Questions concerning the cancellation of a true duplicate registration must be resolved by the State Election Board staff because, in most cases, the matching duplicate voter registration records are located in different counties. County Election Board personnel shall relay concerns that a registration may have been cancelled incorrectly by the true duplicates identification process to the State Election Board staff for investigation and resolution.

(e)   The State Election Board staff shall have the authority to restore the voter registration record of an individual voter cancelled as a true duplicate if, in fact, the match is in error. The restored voter also may be excluded from cancellation in future true duplicate processing if the erroneous match cannot be prevented from recurring.

[Source: Added at 15 Ok Reg 2547, eff 7-1-98; Amended at 16 Ok Reg 522, eff 1-1-99 (emergency); Amended at 16 Ok Reg 2404, eff 7-1-99; Amended at 27 Ok Reg 1124, eff 6-1-10; Amended at 28 Ok Reg 255, eff 1-1-11 (emergency); Amended at 28 Ok Reg 1132, eff 7-1-11; Amended at 33 Ok Reg 1404, eff 9-11-16]