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Oklahoma Administrative Code (Last Updated: March 11, 2021) |
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TITLE 230. State Election Board |
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Chapter 20. Candidate Filing |
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Subchapter 9. Petitions Supporting Declarations of Candidacy |
SECTION 230:20-9-4. Processing a petition supporting a Declaration of Candidacy
Latest version.
- (a) When a candidate for a federal, state, or county office presents a petition in support of a Declaration of Candidacy, the Secretary of the Election Board receiving the Declaration of Candidacy shall observe the following procedure.(1) The Secretary or the Secretary's designee shall ask the candidate to step aside, if other candidates are in line to file, while the petition is processed.(2) The Secretary or the Secretary's designee shall stamp the received date in the upper right corner of each page of the petition.(3) The Secretary or the Secretary's designee immediately shall count and record the total number of pages included in the petition.(4) The Secretary or the Secretary's designee shall count and record the total number of signatures on the petition.(5) The count of both the number of pages and the number of signatures shall be repeated by another designee.(6) If the page and signature counts made by the Secretary or designee match the counts made by the second designee, the Secretary shall refer to the official number of registered voters in the state, county, or district as of November 1 of the year preceding the candidate filing period to determine the minimum number of signatures required for the office sought. If the total number of signatures submitted equals or exceeds the number indicated on said report, the petition shall be deemed sufficient and the Declaration of Candidacy may be submitted.(b) The Secretary of an Election Board who accepts a Declaration of Candidacy supported by petition shall not be required to verify the signatures submitted on the petition. Any other candidate who files for the same office shall be entitled to request a copy of a petition submitted in support of a Declaration of Candidacy and may verify the registration information of each person who signed the petition. In the event that a candidate who submits a petition in support of a Declaration of Candidacy is unopposed, any registered voter eligible to vote for the candidate may request a copy of such petition and may verify the registration information of each person who signed the petition. In the event another candidate for the same office, or a registered voter in the case of an unopposed candidate, is able to determine that a sufficient number of invalid signatures exists to render the petition insufficient, the candidate or the voter may so state in a contest of candidacy petition which may be filed as provided by state law. Any such contest of candidacy shall be filed no later than 5 p.m. on the second business day following the close of the filing period. [26:5-119]