Dispute over City Council District 5 election headed to court; recount requested | #citycouncil

The filings came as no surprise. The election was thrown into disarray Tuesday morning when the Tulsa County Election Board and the county Sheriff’s Office received calls from people who said they went to Precinct 77 to vote but were not given City Council ballots.

Later that day, the Sheriff’s Office held a press conference at which Sheriff Vic Regalado said his office’s investigation had found that 29 Republican voters were the only ones denied ballots. He said he would be sending his report to the District Attorney’s Office to determine whether charges should be filed against any of the poll workers.

Regalado said later that he was first notified of the incident by Miller, whom Regalado had endorsed for the District 5 seat. And it was a video recording that Miller himself made at Precinct 77 that was shown at the press conference and submitted to the district attorney as evidence.

At the same press conference, Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman said her office received similar complaints after the polls opened at 7 a.m. but that the problem was rectified by 8 a.m.

Freeman said it was her understanding that most likely every voter who entered the precinct in the first hour of polling did not receive a City Council ballot and that not all of them were Republicans.

Nineteen Republicans, seven Democrats, four independents and one Libertarian did not receive a City Council ballot during the first hour the polls were open, according to the Election Board.

Unofficial election results from the Election Board on Tuesday night put Miller 28 votes ahead of Arthrell. The lead dropped to 27 votes Friday after provisional ballots were counted.

Arthrell’s petition alleges nine election irregularities, the first of which states that the number of affected ballots — the figure has fluctuated between 29 and 31 — exceeds the final vote differential between the candidates.

“The primary argument is there were apparently 30 or 31 ballots that were not given to voters the morning of the election, and the margin of the decision of the election was within that number,” said attorney Taylor Burke, who is representing Arthrell.

Arthrell’s petition also cites as alleged irregularities the fact that there is no way to determine precisely when voters in Precinct 77 began receiving City Council ballots. It also states that Miller potentially broke state law and affected the number of ballots cast by entering the polling place to question poll workers.

In a press conference at the Election Board late Friday afternoon, Miller defended his actions and insisted that he did not break the law.

“Frankly, it is offensive for anybody to try to claim that by going in and correcting a mis-doing inside of a poll booth is the wrong thing to do or is illegal,” Miller said. “I went in. I heard from my voters that they were being denied ballots, and I went down to verify that. I found out that they were being denied ballots, and I don’t believe the law prevents me from doing that.”

Miller’s attorney, Ronald Durbin, defended his client’s actions and said the recount was the proper first step in ensuring that the election was fair and proper.

“The first thing we think should happen is we should recount the votes and figure out what exactly is the situation,” Durbin said. “How many votes are we shy? What happened in that regard. Let’s get to the bottom of it.”

Arthrell said he doesn’t see how the long list of alleged irregularities can be addressed “without throwing out the election.”

Where the dispute goes from here remains unclear. A hearing to consider Arthrell’s allegations is set for 9 a.m. Thursday before Tulsa County District Judge Doug Drummond. No date has been set for a recount.