The Tulsa County Election Board has received and forwarded complaints to law enforcement that County Commissioner District 3 Candidate Bob Jack’s campaign mailer in mid-June was illegal ballot harvesting. Multiple complaints have been forwarded to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s office. Tulsa Today reported June 20th that Jack’s mailer violated privacy and risked identity theft, but the story keeps growing.
The official definitions of “Absentee Ballot Harvesting” include, “Partially or fully completing an application for an absentee ballot on behalf of another person without that person’s prior consent.” Bob Jack’s campaign mailed absentee ballots to voters that included their full legal names, addresses and birthdays completed on the form without their “prior consent.”
According to ethics filings, Bob Jack has engaged Axiom Strategies of Kansas City, MO. to provide campaign consulting. The national firm’s website claims “1,100 campaigns served, 50 state experience, 250 million mailers sent,” but apparently they did not check Oklahoma’s 2020 Ballot Harvesting Law prior to this campaign.
While absentee ballot harvesting of less than ten ballots is a misdemeanor, “absentee ballot harvesting involving ten or more absentee ballots is a felony, punishable by five years in prison, a $50,000 fine, or both. See 26 O.S. § 16-104.1.”
This was a mass mailing that a non-affiliated consultant estimate to have included 20,000 residents. Thus, Bob Jack may face 2,000 felony charges with a potential of ten-thousand years in prison and $100 million in fines if prosecutors determine that number of charges are warranted.
Bob Jack has not returned calls seeking comment, but it appears this could be the largest number of felonies committed by one candidate in a single race in Oklahoma History. The runoff in that Tulsa County Commission District 3 race will be held August 23.
In an exclusive interview Tulsa County Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman, was asked, “Have you sent complaints of ballot harvesting by County Commissioner Candidate Bob Jack, to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s office?”
“Yes,” Freeman said,” we are required by law to do that, and we have done so in this case.”
Tulsa Today submitted a Public Record Request for more detail and Freeman wrote in response, “Your open records request is currently being handled by our Assistant District Attorney’s office for fulfillment, as is appropriate for this matter. Their office is in possession of any and all relevant documents pertaining to your request and the records are currently being prepared by the ADA’s office on behalf of the County.”
Tulsa Today submitted Public Records Requests on this potential election crime separately to the Tulsa District Attorney and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s offices Monday, August 1.
Rachel Roberts, Director of Communications for the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General wrote in response, “As you know, our review process includes initial intake, records search, legal review and redaction of privileged or exempted records that may be captured by the search. Although the Oklahoma Open Records Act generally presumes all records are open, it includes many exemptions and exceptions to this general rule, such as exemption, which permits our office to maintain the confidentiality of our litigation and investigation files. 51 O.S.2021 § 24A.12.”
Tulsa Today suggests voters should be fully aware of the issue, resolved or not, prior to voting August 23. Any further updates on this issue will be posted to this page.
Bob Jack is the immediate past-Chairman of the Republican Party of Tulsa County and served as Treasurer under his predecessor. Jack is the State Committeeman for Tulsa County and active on several city and county committees including the Election Board, but in his race, Jack repeatedly asserts he is, “not a politician.” However, given his official offices and involvement in multiple Republican campaigns, that he did not know of the 2020 absentee ballot harvesting law is simply implausible.
,Felony charges possible over Bob Jack mailer
Click on this headline to read the full report at Tulsa Today.