More than 60 legislative bills have been filed since 2015 that seek to expand or create new options for Oklahomans to vote or register to vote. But an Oklahoma Watch review of the legislation considered during the past three sessions shows that most didn’t even get a committee hearing. All but 10 failed to reach the governor’s desk. Among the survivors, the most potentially significant one – approved in 2015 to allow online voter registration – may not take effect for two to three more years, meaning most voters in the 2018 elections will likely encounter few changes that appreciably improve voter convenience or efficiency.
Proposals to change the voting process have often stemmed from Oklahoma having one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country. The 2015 online registration law was one of the state’s most ambitious attempts to boost voter turnout in years.
That effort, however, has stalled.
Little progress has been made toward getting the voter registration website up and running in the last two years. And state officials say it will be at least another two to three years before the online registration system can become a reality.
Full Article: Oklahoma Slow to Adopt Changes to Ease Voting Laws | Oklahoma Watch.