§ 26-14-142. Military-overseas ballot - Application methods.

A.  A covered voter who is registered to vote in this state may apply for a military-overseas ballot using either the regular absentee ballot application in use in the voter’s jurisdiction under Section 14-101 et seq. of Title 26 of the Oklahoma Statutes or the federal postcard application or the application’s electronic equivalent.

B.  A covered voter who is not registered to vote in this state may use a federal postcard application or the application’s electronic equivalent to apply simultaneously to register to vote under Section 6 of this act and for a military-overseas ballot.

C.  The Secretary of the State Election Board shall ensure that the electronic transmission system described in subsection C of Section 4 of this act is capable of accepting the submission of both a federal postcard application and any other approved electronic military-overseas ballot application sent to the appropriate election official.  The voter may use the electronic transmission system or any other approved method to apply for a military-overseas ballot.

D.  A covered voter may use the declaration accompanying a federal write-in absentee ballot as an application for a military-overseas ballot simultaneously with the submission of the federal write-in absentee ballot, if the declaration is received by the appropriate election official by the last day for other voters in this state to apply for an absentee ballot for that election pursuant to the provisions of Section 14-103 of Title 26 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

E.  To receive the benefits of the Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act, a covered voter must inform the appropriate election official that the voter is a covered voter.  Methods of informing the appropriate election official that a voter is a covered voter include:

1.  The use of a federal postcard application or federal write-in absentee ballot;

2.  The use of an overseas address on an approved voter registration application or ballot application; and

3.  The inclusion on an approved voter registration application or ballot application of other information sufficient to identify the voter as a covered voter.

F.  This act does not preclude a covered voter from voting under the provisions of Section 14-101 et seq. of Title 26 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

Added by Laws 2011, c. 340, § 7, eff. Nov. 1, 2011.