A Tulsa County judge is prohibited from hearing a constitutional challenge to the state’s voter identification law, the state Supreme Court ruled this week. The Supreme Court issued a brief order Monday regarding a venue issue in a lawsuit filed in Tulsa County against the state Election Board.
The state’s highest court indicated that a constitutional challenge to the law had to be brought in the county of the Election Board’s official residence, which would be Oklahoma County. At a September hearing, District Judge Jefferson Sellers decided that the lawsuit filed in June on behalf of plaintiff Delilah Christine Gentges could proceed in a Tulsa County courtroom. Sellers did not rule on the merits of the suit’s constitutional challenge.
The state Attorney General’s Office, representing the state Election Board, maintained that Tulsa County was not the proper venue for the case. The Attorney General’s Office asked the Supreme Court to reverse the venue decision by Sellers, and the high court assumed jurisdiction of the case to resolve that issue.
Tulsa attorney James Thomas, who filed the suit, could ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling. “I’m not going to let it go,” Thomas said Tuesday.
He has said repeatedly that he does not want to pursue the lawsuit in Oklahoma County, contending that Tulsa County residents should have access to district court in Tulsa.
Thomas indicated that he still could pursue the case in Oklahoma County if that is his only option.
Full Article: Court orders voter ID challenge moved to OKC | Tulsa World.