Oklahoma Supreme Court hears arguments on potential "ballot harvesting" in State Senate race

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Oklahoma State Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday surrounding allegations of illegal absentee ballot harvesting. The case surrounds the State Senate District 15 runoff between Robert Keyes and Lisa Standridge.

Standridge won the seat by 55 votes. Following the election, a court-ordered recount was issued.

Keyes has claimed that Standridge’s campaign and election officials have concealed evidence and blocked an investigation into alleged ballot harvesting with the race.

Ballot harvesting is when someone collects completed absentee ballots from voters and delivers them to polling places. It has helped some voters who cannot get to their voting stations, but some have said it can lead to fraud. It is illegal in the state of Oklahoma.

Keyes' attorney, Gideon Lincecum, made an argument before a State Supreme Court referee. They asked the referee to allow the case to go back to the district court so a judge can address potential evidence.

Lincecum said the lower court's judge, who initially presided over the case, did not make a decision because of miscommunications with an agreement with opposing attorneys.

Lincecum claimed to have found evidence of “illegal absentee ballot harvesting” and election “irregularities.”

Lincecum told the State Supreme Court referee that there were “potential serious felonies” committed by Standridge’s campaign, the Oklahoma Election Board, and the Cleveland County Election Board.

Opposing lawyers said the case should be dismissed. They claimed nothing in the evidence “constitutes an irregularity.”

KFOR called Standridge for a comment, but those calls were not returned.

She won the November primary election over her Democratic challenger with 61% of the votes. She is the wife of former State Senator Rob Standridge, who left the District 15 seat after he was term limited.

She was not at the hearing on Tuesday, but Keyes was there with his attorneys.

"The fact is that for some reason, the whole group was wanting to cover up the fact of 15 crimes," said Keyes. "There was this mindset that appears that you can commit as many crimes as you want during an election as long as those crimes don't outweigh the number of votes that you won by." The State Supreme Court referee will review the case and submit her report in the coming weeks.