TULSA, Okla. — Officials now say the legal and criminal battle over the November ballot for a Tulsa City Council election is over. Reports of 30-40 ballots mistakenly not given to voters at Precinct 77 threw the race between then-incumbent Mykey Arthrell and challenger Grant Miller into deep debate over its legitimacy.
The two poll workers who allegedly made the mistakes will avoid charges, the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office said.
Miller filed a complaint to the election board based on a video confrontation he recorded (which itself was subject to scrutiny over election ethics), prompting an investigation into the tightly-contested District 5 race that Miller ultimately won by 28 votes.
“When we have something like this happen, it’s unfortunate for everybody," Miller told 2 News Thursday. "It’s unfortunate for my opponent, for the poll workers, for me, and really for the whole city because, for some has undermined faith in our democratic system.”
Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado offered a statement Thursday:
“Just as with any other case, this incident was thoroughly investigated by our detectives and then turned over to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration of charges. This case has since moved through the criminal justice system. We believe the end result is appropriate and that justice has been served.”
The results are that the two poll workers in question, David & Henryetta Barber, agreed to a deferred prosecution. This means they will each pay a $50 fine, do 25 hours of community service, and cannot break any laws for six months. The two also voluntarily included in the agreement that they would not work as poll workers in the future, all without admitting any guilt.
“So assuming those conditions are met, no charges will be filed against them,” Assistant District Attorney Erik Grayless said. He admits using deferred prosecution in any case is a "rare beast" in his line of work.
“In this particular case we thought that justice was best served by them recognizing that certain conduct happened that shouldn’t have, but rather than a file against them, they agree to do something before in order to prevent a filing. We thought that justice was best served with means short of filing a criminal charge,” Grayless said.
Grayless clarified that while he can’t answer all questions that the election board can, he does offer assurance to Tulsa County voters.
“Despite suggestions that there’s massive irregularities in elections, there are really not. I think the voters can feel very confident in their election board officials at the Tulsa County Election Board. They are consistently running effective elections that result in outcomes that I think the public can be very confident in,” Grayless said.
2 News Oklahoma reached out to Tulsa County Election Board about the investigations and what preventative measures if any will be taken for Tuesday’s Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education primaries and beyond. The board secretary declined the request for comment.
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