Oklahoma Regulations § 230:30-11-6.1 Receiving voted absentee ballots by fax from uniformed services and overseas voters

(a) All uniformed services and overseas voters are entitled to fax their voted absentee ballot to the State Election Board or to the County Election Board that issued the ballot. Uniformed services and overseas voters who request a faxed ballot for federal offices as described in 230:30-9-5.1 must return said ballot by fax. Uniformed services and overseas voters may fax the federal write-in absentee ballot described in 230:30-13-1 through 230:30-13-4 at any time. Uniformed services and overseas voters who request that ballots be transmitted by electronic mail must return said ballot either by regular mail or by fax.

(b) A uniformed services or overseas voter described in (a) of this section may fax a copy of the voted ballot either to the State Election Board or to the County Election Board that issued the ballot in addition to mailing the original ballot to the issuing County Election Board. A fax cover sheet for this purpose may be downloaded and printed from the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) website: www.fvap.gov . Uniformed services voters may obtain copies of the fax cover sheet from the Voting Service Officers in their units. Overseas voters may obtain the cover sheet at United States embassies, consulates, and military installations. A voter who chooses to fax a voted ballot must sign a Secret Ballot Waiver and transmit it with the ballot. All faxed ballots must be received by the State Election Board or by the County Election Board no later than 7 p.m. (United States Central Time Zone) on the date of the election in order for the ballot to be counted. In the event that a voter's regular ballot is received by mail at the County Election Board prior to 7 p.m. on election day, only the voter's regular ballot shall be counted. The voter shall follow these instructions to fax a voted ballot to the State Election Board or to the County Election Board.

(c) The Secretary of the State Election Board shall assign one or more employees to receive and process voted ballots faxed by uniformed services and overseas voters. Upon receipt by fax of a voted ballot, the assigned employees shall take the following steps to transmit the ballot and related information to the appropriate County Election Board Secretary.

(d) Upon receipt by fax of a voted ballot from the State Election Board, the Secretary of the County Election Board shall take the following steps.

(e) Upon receipt by fax of a voted ballot from a uniformed services voter or an overseas voter, the Secretary of the County Election Board shall follow the same steps outlined in (c) of this section.

(f) A voter who faxes a voted ballot to the State Election Board or to a County Election Board as described in this section is instructed to sign a Secret Ballot Waiver. The Secret Ballot Waiver is part of the fax cover sheet provided by the FVAPon its website and to voters who receive their absentee ballots and balloting materials online through the OMOBO system. If neither of these cover sheets is available, the voter may include the following signed statement among the materials faxed with the voted ballot. "I understand that by faxing my voted ballot I am voluntarily waiving my right to a secret ballot." This statement should be signed and dated by the voter. Failure of a voter to sign or to include a secret ballot waiver shall not be grounds for rejecting the voter's absentee ballot.

(g) Oklahoma law does not allow uniformed services or overseas voters to return voted ballots to the County Election Board by electronic mail. Ballots from these voters may be returned only as outlined in this section.