OKC March 3rd election for permanent 1/8 cent dedicated sales tax for parks

[Edmond Hausfrau]

I agree that it should be made even easier, but it's already very easy to vote by mail. You sign up at the voter portal. You can select the option for them to mail you every ballot you're eligible to vote on for the entire year. You receive your ballots weeks ahead of time. If you forget to send it in, you can still go to the polls, you just have to sign an affidavit saying you didn't send in your mail ballot.

https://okvoterportal.okelections.us/

Except absentee voting in Oklahoma still requires a notary, unless you are physically incapacitated.
I think in Colorado you can drop your ballot in mail, without witnesses signatures or notary.

[shawnw]

Except absentee voting in Oklahoma still requires a notary, unless you are physically incapacitated.
I think in Colorado you can drop your ballot in mail, without witnesses signatures or notary.

I agree that is a slight downside, but your signature is witnessed at the polls as well, and it's not difficult to find a notary. It's quite possible you have one at your office, if not just around the corner.

[mugofbeer]

Except absentee voting in Oklahoma still requires a notary, unless you are physically incapacitated.
I think in Colorado you can drop your ballot in mail, without witnesses signatures or notary.

You are correct about Colorado. All l did was sign the ballot.

[Dob Hooligan]

Um, initiative petitions are part of the normal flow. It's in the city charter. It just so happened that Ed funded this one, but any of us could go out and get 6500 signatures to force a vote on an issue. There's nothing wrong with it and I wish we'd see more of that sort of thing ("people doing something about an issue") vs all the belly aching.

https://www.okc.gov/departments/initiative-petition

I still maintain that Ed Shadid worked outside the normal flow of the powers that be. He did not (either by choice or by being rejected) work to get it implemented with the full endorsement and cooperation of city government. He decided this was an issue that needed a solution and implementation that was more pressing than city government did, and tried to get the citizenry to agree. He failed.

What he did is 100% legal. It also struck me as the pet project of a guy who thought his vision of future of Oklahoma City is singularly better than the vision and work of elected and professional city government.

[shawnw]

I'm not saying you're wrong, per se, because I have no idea what Ed did.

But if some random dude went and got 6500 signatures on an issue and didn't tell another soul, including his councilperson, and just showed up at city hall one day to file his signatures, that doesn't mean he worked outside the normal flow of government. There is nothing about this process that requires you get likes from your favorite government insiders. It's specifically there so citizens can push issues important to them that their government is not pushing.

Sorry, I'm just a fan of the IP process and wish we'd use it much more as citizens.

[Dob Hooligan]

I think the IP process is a vital tool for citizens to have as a way of keeping government honest and attentive.

Over the last 30-40 years I have had several interactions with Oklahoma City government. I have always found them to be responsive, informative and helpful. I have also found them to always be aware of the potential impact on all stakeholders involved. Federal, state, county and possibly tribal governments, as well as business or citizen groups, and individual citizens. There is an incredible amount of moving parts IMO. That is why I talk about working with city government.

[OKC Guy]

I still maintain that Ed Shadid worked outside the normal flow of the powers that be. He did not (either by choice or by being rejected) work to get it implemented with the full endorsement and cooperation of city government. He decided this was an issue that needed a solution and implementation that was more pressing than city government did, and tried to get the citizenry to agree. He failed.

What he did is 100% legal. It also struck me as the pet project of a guy who thought his vision of future of Oklahoma City is singularly better than the vision and work of elected and professional city government.

I do wonder, it takes time to get signatures. If he started the park tax signature initiative prior to the MAPS 4 vote perhaps he expected MAPS to fail and then went ahead after it passed anyways since he was gathering or had gathered enough signatures? To me MAPS 4 addressed some of the park money so my guess is folks thought this was overkill on parks?

[shawnw]

You only have 90 days to collect signatures once you file your petition. But then the city decides when to schedule the election. I remember signing the petition. They definitely chose to schedule this vote well after MAPS 4.

[NavySeabee]

I voted for this hoping areas to the south and east would actually see a nice park or two. Wishful thinking I guess as the city is only interested in developing and improving north of I-40 and West of I-35.

[TheTravellers]

I voted for this hoping areas to the south and east would actually see a nice park or two. Wishful thinking I guess as the city is only interested in developing and improving north of I-40 and West of I-35.

C'mon, stop with this north/south crap. The "city" wasn't involved in this tax vote at all, and if passed, it would've (most likely, I didn't read all of the detailed plans) applied to parks all over the city. Also, the tax wasn't really going to actually create parks (not sure if that's what you mean by "actually see a nice park or two"), just put more money into the operational and maintenance funds.

[SouthSide]

I voted for this hoping areas to the south and east would actually see a nice park or two. Wishful thinking I guess as the city is only interested in developing and improving north of I-40 and West of I-35.

I totally get it. I want the city to have nice parks. At the same, I have no reason to trust the City of OKC to fund the parks system with any measure of equity. Why keep voting to tax myself when so little of the funds is allocated within my community? At some point you feel like a sucker.This vote was for additional funds to maintain and program the parks. Three southside parks were listed under the dream big portion of the MAPS 4 presentation but so were a lot of other things.

[Midtowner]

I agree that is a slight downside, but your signature is witnessed at the polls as well, and it's not difficult to find a notary. It's quite possible you have one at your office, if not just around the corner.

You're much more likely to have a notary at the office if you work a white collar job too. So there's some built in bias against the poor in this requirement in that they might not have easy access to a Notary.

[shawnw]

You're not wrong, but every tag agency has a notary, and most folks do business at tag agencies at some point or other. And they're not allowed to charge more than $5. Still a barrier I agree.

Also, and not necessarily directly relevant to your point, but I just learned there are now online notaries in Oklahoma. I've asked if those can be used for ballots and how that would work, but haven't gotten an answer yet.

https://www.sos.ok.gov/notary/info/g...formation.aspx

[Edmond Hausfrau]

You're not wrong, but every tag agency has a notary, and most folks do business at tag agencies at some point or other. And they're not allowed to charge more than $5. Still a barrier I agree.

Also, and not necessarily directly relevant to your point, but I just learned there are now online notaries in Oklahoma. I've asked if those can be used for ballots and how that would work, but haven't gotten an answer yet.

https://www.sos.ok.gov/notary/info/g...formation.aspx

I am glad you agree that it's an unnecessary barrier. States with true vote by mail don't require it.
As a side issue, both tag renewals and banks are online.I can't remember the last time I set foot in either thing. In fact my bank doesn't have a physical location anywhere in Oklahoma. I don't think I'm an outlier.

[NavySeabee]

I had my mail in vote notarized. It does not cost anything at a Tag Agency. At the least the one in Midwest City didn't charge me.

[LocoAko]

I had my mail in vote notarized. It does not cost anything at a Tag Agency. At the least the one in Midwest City didn't charge me.

I could be wrong, but I believe it is illegal for any notary to charge to notarize a ballot.