Politics
Cleveland County Court Clerk Audits 11 Years of Felony Lists After Illegal Voting Case
Cleveland County Court Clerk Marilyn Williams is auditing 11 years of monthly felony lists and adding a new verification system after a woman accused of illegal voting slipped through due to missing identifiers. The case highlights gaps in Oklahoma's process for removing ineligible voters from the rolls.
NORMAN, Okla. â Cleveland County Court Clerk Marilyn Williams has ordered an audit of 11 years of monthly felony lists and is implementing a new checking system after a woman accused of illegal voting remained on the voter rolls despite appearing on a felony list, her office said.
The case centers on Sara Polston, who is accused of voting in two elections while serving a felony sentence, a violation of Oklahoma law. Polston has pleaded not guilty and appeared in court this week. Her next court date is Jan. 5.
Under Oklahoma's process for removing ineligible voters, county court clerks must send monthly reports to county election boards listing people convicted of felonies. Election officials use those lists to identify registered voters and cancel registrations when they can make a match. State rules require at least three matching identifiers to cancel a registration, such as a person's name, date of birth, Oklahoma driver's license number, last four Social Security digits, or county of residence.
In Polston's case, Cleveland County officials said her name appeared on the monthly felony list, but there was not enough identifying information to match her to her voter registration. The Cleveland County Court Clerk's Office told FOX 25 it is still working to find out why. The office said it found four people with missing identifiers on 2026 felony lists, including Polston.
"It's just an incident where someone slips through the cracks," said Dr. Seth McKee, an OSU political science professor.
According to an OSBI affidavit, the Cleveland County District Attorney's Office asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate after receiving information that Polston had voted. The Cleveland County Election Board provided voter history and signed poll rosters showing Polston voted in the June 16 and Aug. 25 elections. Investigators also reviewed Department of Corrections GPS records, which they said placed her at a polling place on both days. The affidavit says Polston's attorney told investigators she did not know she was ineligible. To get a conviction, the state must prove Polston knowingly and willfully voted while ineligible.
People serving a felony sentence â including probation â cannot register to vote until they complete their sentence, unless a specific legal exception applies.
Williams said her office is auditing monthly felony lists for the past 11 years and adding a new checking system before future lists go to the election board. "As the court clerk, it is my responsibility to ensure this never happens again," Williams said. "I believe missing information is unacceptable and not the standard of my office."
Charity Linch, the GOP chair, said she supports the review. "I'm glad it's happening. It needs to be done. I think it's unfortunate that we had to have an example before we were making sure our voter rolls were correct," Linch said.
The State Election Board told FOX 25 that more than 1,600 registrations were canceled from January through October. The board did not answer a question about how often voters with felony convictions are allowed to vote.
"Oklahoma does a really good job counting votes, but when something like this happens, it's a black eye," McKee said.