Party Affiliation Change Deadline Approaches
(Oklahoma City) – The deadline for registered voters to change their party affiliation for upcoming Primary and Runoff Primary elections is March 31, State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said.
By statute, changing party affiliation is not allowed from April 1 to Aug. 31. All requests to change party affiliation submitted after March 31 will be processed Sept. 1.
Oklahoma has a modified closed primary system, meaning registered voters of a political party may only vote in their party’s primary and runoff primary elections.
However, the law allows the parties to notify the State Election Board every two years if they would like to let Independents vote in their primaries. The Democratic Party is allowing Independent voters to participate in its primaries and runoffs in 2018 and 2019.
Party affiliation can be changed by filling out a voter registration application form.
Forms can be downloaded at http://elections.ok.gov. They are also available at tag agencies, post offices, libraries and all 77 county election boards.
Registered voters must be citizens of the United States, residents of the State of Oklahoma and 18 or older before the date of the next election.
The state's claim of authority to prevent a citizen from changing party affiliation is unconstitutional. Would you accept the state prohibiting you from changing your religious affiliation? Both claims are violations of the First Amendment of the U S Constitution.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the state trying to accomplish? This lock-in of party affiliation serves to protect certain political parties from competition. It is pure special interest legislation which primarily favors the Democratic and Republican parties. The Libertarians are compelled to follow this law even if they have a constitutional right to accept affiliations into their party after the state deadline.
No party should have the law lock-in membership or affiliation with it leadership for any time period. Voters are the right to access candidates and judge those candidates on their qualifications without the state meddling in disqualifying persons seeking a party's endorsement by affiliation.
This provision of Oklahoma election should be challenged in federal court to be struck down.