Oklahoma's election system '100% accurate,' says chief election official

Oklahoma's election system functioned with 100% accuracy during the June primary election, says the state's chief election official.

The announcement came Monday, just a day before thousands of Oklahomans were expected to return to the polls for the August primary runoff election.

In a media statement Oklahoma State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said post-election audits conducted after Oklahoma's June primary election confirmed the accuracy of the state's voting system "with a 100% match of the certified election results."

After the June 18 primary election, Ziriax tasked 76 of the state's 77 counties to conduct manual tabulation audits of ballots in randomly selected races across the state. The audits were open to the public and included election day precincts, in-person absentee ballots and mail absentee ballots.

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Ziriax said he exempted the Carter County Election Board from the audit requirement because the county election board had just completed a countywide, candidate-requested recount of a sheriff's primary. He said the recount exactly matched the unofficial results in that race. Details are included in the audit report.

"Oklahomans can be proud that our state has a voting system that is accurate and secure. Post-election audits and manual recounts in Oklahoma have proven it over and over again," Ziriax said. He said post-election audits were first authorized by the Legislature in 2019, and are now a routine part of the election process.

The audit follows a report by a state task force on election security and campaign reform. That report, released in March of this year, said recounts and post-election audits have proven the accuracy of Oklahoma’s voting devices.

"Recounts and post-election audits of elections regularly occur in Oklahoma and have consistently shown that Oklahoma’s voting devices accurately count ballots," the study, ordered by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, said. The study also cited praise of the election system by the League of Women Voters.

"The (league's) report noted that the league is 'confident that Oklahoma’s election infrastructure is sound' and that 'where enforcement of voter fraud laws is required, those laws are enforced,'" the task force reported.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma's election system '100% accurate,' says chief election official