Oklahoma is one of seven states that regularly purges voters off of its rolls if they haven’t voted in recent elections. Oklahoma performed a purge of 91,000 voters from the voting rolls this April. These types of voter purges are unnecessary and make it harder for eligible registered voters to vote in future elections.

Oklahoma did see modest improvements for voters this session as Oklahoma lawmakers passed two bills to promote voting rights and fair elections: a bill (SB 58) requiring employers to give employees two hours off to vote during early voting, a bill (SB 496) to allow 17-and-a-half year olds to pre-register to vote, and a bill (SB 261) to improve election security. 

Oklahoma Democrats introduced legislation (SB 282) to restore voting rights to certain individuals with felony convictions, but the bill did not advance. Oklahoma was able to pass legislation to educate persons with felony records on the restoration of their voting rights.

Oklahoma Democrats introduced an array of other measures that would have made elections freer and fairer, but the legislation did not pass: vote-by-mail (SB 634), automatic voter registration (HB 2087, HB 2535), and the establishment of an independent redistricting commission (HJR 1019).

Oklahoma GOP politicians also put in work to make it harder for voters to register and cast a ballot by introducing legislation to confirm all registered voters are citizens by using state and federal data (HB 2429). These types of voter validations are often used to purge voters from the voting rolls.