Oklahoma Election Board Declares Election Emergency

The Oklahoma State Election Board declared an election emergency on Wednesday for local elections being held on April 7, 2020.

State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax says the election emergency declaration will require County Election Boards to accept resolutions adopted by the governing bodies of school districts, municipalities, technology districts and counties to move their April 7 elections to another date.

“We are in uncharted waters here, so I am hopeful we have found a sensible solution that is consistent with the spirit of the law and avoids bureaucratic overreach by state election officials,” Ziriax said. “As Oklahoma’s chief election official, I strongly urge school districts, municipalities, technology districts and counties with April 7 elections to take immediate action to reschedule and help efforts to flatten the COVID-19 curve.”

The State Election board says that regular and statutory elections could be rescheduled on June 30, the next available election date and the date of the State Primary Election. Special elections could be rescheduled for any election date allowed by law.

Local elections were to be held in 74 counties on April 7th. A list of those elections is available on the State Election Board website at elections.ok.gov.