New allegations of voting irregularities in the Tulsa city council district 3 election

Allegations of voting irregularities against a newly elected Tulsa city councilor. <br><br>Roscoe Turner won Tuesday's district 3 special election by 222 votes over David Patrick. An investigation

Thursday, April 8th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Allegations of voting irregularities against a newly elected Tulsa city councilor.

Roscoe Turner won Tuesday's district 3 special election by 222 votes over David Patrick. An investigation just started by the Tulsa County District Attorney may muddy up the waters though.

New on 6 reporter Rick Wells explains what happened this time and what's next.

The Tulsa County Election Board suspects irregularities in the district 3 city council race again. Tulsa County DA Tim Harris: "I've referred that notification and all the information delivered to my office to the Tulsa County Sheriff's office and asked them to initiate a criminal investigation."

So, just when it appeared the district 3 city council race had been run and won by Roscoe Turner, allegations of irregularities have popped up again. While no one at the election board could talk specifics, they did confirm the allegations involve a candidate assisting ineligible Republican voters who tried to vote absentee in this special election.

Other allegations involve the candidate or his family witnessing absentee ballots. This district 3 race has had problems from the beginning. The February 3rd vote gave David Patrick a 4 vote win, a recount resulted in Patrick winning by just 3 votes.

Turner went to court with charges of irregularities and a judge ordered a new election. Now the special election is being investigated. Roscoe Turnerâ€™s attorney says they still haven't seen the allegations, but says Turner denies doing anything wrong. Tim Harris: "It's not a done deal nothing's been decided. If Roscoe wants to talk to investigators I would encourage he and his lawyer to think about that choice."

He says he has no idea how long this will take, but if the investigation were to result in charges, the city charter provides for the suspension or removal of a councilor.

In the meantime things will proceed normally, and Roscoe Turner is scheduled to be sworn in as the new district 3 city councilor next Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 PM.