Student Voting Guide | Oklahoma

Registration

http://www.ok.gov/~elections/ (registration form available online)

Registration ends 24 days before Election Day.[1]  Your registration application must be postmarked by this date to be accepted for the election.[2] If you will turn 18 before the election, you may preregister to vote within the 60 days before the election.[3]

Residency

At School.  Students attending school in Oklahoma should be able to register and vote at their school address if they are a “bona fide” resident of their college town.[4]  Under Oklahoma law, the most important factor in determining whether you are a “bona fide” resident for voting purposes is your intent to leave your old home and establish a new one.[5]  If you move to school intending to make a home there and do not intend to move back to the place you came from (i.e., your parents’ home), you should be able to establish residency in Oklahoma. 

At Home. Students who lived in Oklahoma before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their Oklahoma voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ Oklahoma address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state.  Like all states, Oklahoma allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you will lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state.  While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of your Oklahoma residency, some judges or officials might view it as such.

Identification

Only first-time voters who register by mail have to show ID.[6]  These voters may submit a copy of their identification with their registration application or show ID when they vote.[7]  Valid ID includes a current photo ID or a document with your name and registration address, including a voter ID card (issued by the state election board), utility bill, paycheck, bank statement, government check or other government document with your name and address.[8]  Student IDs will not be accepted as photo ID, but cell phone bills and student housing bills, and online printouts of qualifying documents will all be accepted as long as they have your name and address.[9]  If you cannot show ID, you will have to vote by provisional ballot, which will be counted if your identity can be verified.[10]

Absentee Voting

http://www.ok.gov/elections/Absentee_Voting/Absentee_Ballot_Applications/

Any registered voter may vote absentee.[11]  You must request your absentee ballot by 5:00 p.m. on the Wednesday before Election Day.[12]  The blank application is available online at the web side of the Board of Elections at the above link—you can both mail and fax the application.  The application does not have to be witnessed.

When you fill out your absentee ballot, you will also have to fill out the accompanying affidavit and have that affidavit notarized.[13]  Your county election board must receive your absentee ballot by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.[14]

Early Voting

As a convenience to voters, Oklahoma has early voting from 8 am to 6 pm on Friday and Monday before all elections, and for state and federal elections you can also vote from 8am to 1 pm on Saturday before Election Day.[15]  At early voting sites, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county.  If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent.

Last Updated in April 2010

---

[1] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 4-110.1(A) (West 2010).

[2] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 4-110.1(A).

[3] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 4-103.

[4] In re Initiative Petition No. 379, State Question No. 726, 155 P.3d 32, 41 (Okla. 2006).

[5] In re Initiative Petition No. 379, State Question No. 726, 155 P.3d 32, 41 (Okla. 2006).

[6] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 7-115.2.

[7] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 7-115.2.

[8] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 7-115.2.

[9] Interview with Vada Holstein, Information Officer, Oklahoma State Elections Board (July 9, 2008).

[10] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 7-115.2 (West 2010).

[11] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 14-105.

[12] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 14-103.

[13] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 14-108.

[14] Okl. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 14-104.

[15] Oklahoma State Election Board, Frequently Asked Questions available at http://www.ok.gov/elections/faqs.html#q621.