Election and Ethics

On Tuesday, Rep. Chris Banning, R-Bixby, held an interim study to examine aligning school board elections with on-cycle elections. IS24-018 was held before the Elections and Ethics House Committee. Currently, Oklahoma statute mandates school board elections be held on off-cycle rotations and not in November. Banning said Oklahoma is one of only 12 states with such a mandate. Dr. Bradley Ward, Oklahoma deputy director for Americans for Prosperity, discussed the potential benefits of aligning school board elections with on-cycle elections. Ward's analysis, based on data from the Oklahoma State Election Board, shows that an average of 6% of registered voters participated in Oklahoma's local school board elections in April 2024. Using data from the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System, Ward's calculations indicate that Oklahoma school districts spent about $16.8 million on election services in 2023. Ward projected that shifting elections to on-cycle elections could save and repurpose about $17 million for school needs. During his presentation, Ward shared case studies from Texas and Michigan, highlighting how these states increased voter turnout. In 2006, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1, shifting 174 school districts to on-cycle elections. Ward said that, as a result, voter turnout increased significantly. "After the Michigan Legislature passed House Bill 4005 in 2011, the following year saw a remarkable surge in voter turnout in their 2012 school board elections," Ward said. "With some districts experiencing a voter increase of over 1600%." During the study, Ward said that based on the case studies from red states such as Texas and historically blue states such as Michigan, this policy is a bipartisan way to effectively save school districts money, align elections, and increase voter turnout and accountability. "Again, this legislation is simple," Banning said. "It increases voter turnout, which leads to accurate community representation in our education system while saving tens of millions for our amazing educators."

Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, commented on the consistently high performance of the state of Oklahoma in election integrity. "Oklahomans are very concerned with the issue of election integrity," Olsen said. "They want election results to be accurate, and not fraudulent. I am happy to report that for a number of years, Oklahoma has had an excellent system. I am especially happy to report that our performance is steadily improving. "The Heritage Foundation rates every state in the country on their election integrity. Last year, Oklahoma had a very good rating of 13th in the country. This year we are rated as #5 in the country. So we are deliberately moving closer to perfection." Olsen also remarked that the Oklahoma State Election Board has been very helpful to work with the Legislature in the goal of continuous improvement toward perfection in election integrity. The Oklahoma State Election Board released audit findings Monday confirming 100% accuracy of June's primary election results. Olsen said Oklahoma’s rise in the rankings can be attributed to recently enacted legislation that strengthened voter ID requirements, improved the accuracy of voter registration lists, prohibited the private funding of elections, and banned the use of ranked-choice voting.

OKLAHOMA CITY – House Majority Leader Tammy West, R-Oklahoma City, on Monday won unanimous passage of a bill that will ensure uniformity in seating newly elected school board members. House Bill 1372 specifies that school board candidates elected outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote in a February primary election would be seated at the first meeting following the April general election date and certification. The measure passed the House Elections and Ethics Committee. West – a former school board member herself – explained that beginning in 2019, school board general elections were moved from February to April with primary elections still being held in February. "Since that change, most school board members have been seated in April. The exception are those members who win outright in February. They are being seated at the very next school board meeting. The problem that has caused is everyone is not starting at the same time, but more importantly, those sitting members have their term cut short. This bill would just clarify that everyone is seated at the April meeting after the general election and certification." HB1372 is now eligible to be considered by the full House. West was elected to the Putnam City School Board of Education in 2009 and reelected in 2014, both times unopposed. She served as president of the Board in 2013.