On May 19, the Oklahoma legislature passed SB 1016. It alters the voter registration forms. Applicants will still be asked to choose a party, or independent status. But there will not longer be any checkboxes for any particular party. Applicants will write in the name of the party they wish to join. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news.
Will lots of Electors fail the spelling test for each Party ???
How about multiple rubber stamps or even stickers ???
I suspect that the number if registered Independents will greatly increase after this bill is signed into law.
This is being done partly because there is a high probability that the Libertarian Presidential candidate will receive enough votes for the party to retain ballot status after the general election. This has not happened since the Reform Party did it in Oklahoma in the 1996 election. After the 1996 election the Reform Party sued because the voter registration forms only listed the Republican and Democratic Parties on the form. The case was settled at a Federal settlement conference, with it being agreed that the voter registration form would be redone after every general election by listing the political parties by name that were still ballot qualified, and leaving a blank line for registration for newly qualifying parties until the next general election. Thus, the State would only redo the forms every two years so as to save money. Of course, the other reason for the change is actually to give less notice of the Libertarian option. Further, the new form can be used in the future without any new changes.