Voter ID Lawsuit: Waiting For the Oklahoma Supreme Court

Heather News

The scheduled hearing before a referee of the Oklahoma Supreme Court was held April 19. Little was resolved. It is now a matter of waiting for the Oklahoma Supreme Court to determine if it wants to take up this issue and strike down the newly enacted law requiring all voters show either a photo identification or their voter registration card before being allowed to cast their votes.

The state argues that the case should be dismissed because the court does not have jurisdiction due to improper venue of the original action, lack of standing and that no one has yet been harmed by the new law or denied the right of suffrage. The court by its own rule does not render speculative decisions based on harm that might result or on hypothetical facts. The state argues that assuming original jurisdiction in this controversy would be outside of the Court’s own long held tradition. The state said very little about the constitutionality of state legislature submitting questions to the people for consideration other than to assert such procedure was constitutional.

Both sides in the case have provided arguments sufficient for the court to make a ruling. It is now up to the collective wisdom of the justices to determine if the new Voter ID law abridges the right to suffrage guaranteed by the constitution of the State of Oklahoma.