Pat Key ruled winner of disputed GOP Tulsa County clerk runoff election

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Runner-up Dean Martin had asked for a new election or that he be declared the winner because of what attorney John DesBarres called "a totality of defects that bring into question the validity of the absentee voting process in this particular election."

Martin and his team originally challenged the propriety of 534 of the 1,065 mail-in absentee ballots cast in the Aug. 28 election. That number was subsequently pared to 425.

The challenges were based not on the ballots themselves but on the accompanying affidavits and the way the ballots and affidavits were processed.

Because the actual ballots weren't being challenged, Martin needed Kellough only to rule at least 184 affidavits invalid to create mathematical uncertainty about the election's outcome.

Kellough did rule out a handful of affidavits and said the Tulsa County Election Board might not have been as diligent as it should have been, but in the end he said the problems were insufficient to call a new election.

He did, however, chide the Election Board, saying it "made a number of mistakes - many mistakes - and gave Mr. Martin every reason to wonder if the election should be overturned. I do not."

Kellough threw out seven affidavits for reasons that included signatures that did not match the name of the voter, missing notary information and failure to obtain valid witness signatures on nursing home ballots. He said he allowed other affidavits even though they contained minor defects.

Kellough refused to go along with Martin's biggest play - an attempt to rule that 92 ballots were not in their own special envelopes when they arrived at the Tulsa County Election Board and that those ballots should count toward the 184 needed to create uncertainty.

By law, each absentee ballot is to be returned in an "opaque" envelope sealed within a larger envelope containing the affidavit. Upon arrival, the larger envelope is opened, the affidavit is extracted and the smaller ballot envelope is placed in a locked box to be opened on Election Day.

Frequently, though, absentee ballots arrive in the larger envelope with the affidavit. Usually, those ballots are counted anyway, but DesBarres argued that that creates the possibility of ballot-box stuffing.

Key's attorney, Donald Bingham, argued that prevailing case law allows considerable latitude for absentee ballot irregularities and that to throw out the Aug. 28 results would not only disenfranchise all of those voters but have a chilling effect on absentee voting in the future.

Martin, represented by DesBarres and Jim Goodwin, indicated that an appeal of Kellough's decision is unlikely.

"It's been onerous, yes," he said. "But I feel blessed because I've met so many great folks."

Key said she "felt like the case law was on our side, but when you get to court you never know what's going to happen."

The Tulsa County Election Board is expected to meet Wednesday to certify the election results.

Original Print Headline: Key's win affirmed in GOP county clerk race

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Randy Krehbiel 918-581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20120915_16_A22_CUTLIN89494&rss_lnk=12

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