Okla. Stat. tit. 26, § 26-14-123: Removal of outer envelopes - Examination of affidavits

A. At 10:00 a.m. on Thursday preceding the election, or at such

time thereafter as the secretary of the county election board may

desire, the county election board may meet and publicly remove the

outer envelopes from all absentee ballots then received, examine and

remove properly executed affidavits and place the plain opaque

envelopes in a ballot box, locked with three locks. The procedure

shall be repeated until such time as all ballots have been received.

Provided, such procedure may begin at an earlier date upon the

written approval of the Secretary of the State Election Board.

B. 1. The county election board may designate one or more

special absentee voting boards to conduct the removal of outer

envelopes and examination of affidavits described in subsection A of

this section. A special absentee voting board shall consist of two

members, neither of whom shall be of the same political party.

Members of a special absentee voting board shall be designated by

the county election board from a list provided by the secretary of

the county election board. Members of a special absentee voting

board shall meet the same eligibility requirements as a precinct

judge or clerk and shall receive the same compensation as a nursing

home absentee voting board.

2. The public shall have the right to be present when a special

absentee voting board conducts the removal of outer envelopes and

examination of affidavits, but these duties are not required to be

performed during a public meeting of the county election board.

3. A special absentee voting board so designated shall organize

the absentee ballot affidavits they have examined into three groups:

a. those the special absentee voting board agrees are

properly executed,

b. those the special absentee voting board agrees are not

properly executed, and

c. those absentee ballot affidavits about which the

special absentee voting board members do not agree.

Each group shall be reported to the county election board at a

public meeting of the board.

4. For absentee ballot affidavits that the special absentee

voting board agrees are properly executed, upon approval of the

county election board, the affidavits shall be removed and the plain

opaque envelopes shall be eligible to be counted pursuant to law.

5. For absentee ballots that the special absentee voting board

agrees are not properly executed pursuant to law, the county

election board shall review the affidavits and make a determination

as to whether the affidavits should be accepted or rejected pursuant

to law.

6. For absentee ballot affidavits on which the special absentee

voting board cannot agree about a properly executed affidavit, the

county election board shall review the affidavits and make a

determination as to whether the affidavits should be accepted or

rejected pursuant to law.

C. When an examination of an absentee ballot affidavit is made

to determine whether it has been properly executed, such

determination shall be based only upon the requirements found in

this title for the type of absentee ballot affidavit being examined.

No person making such a determination shall substitute his or her

own personal preference or judgment in place of the requirements

provided by law.