Below appeared in the Daily Oklahoman on April 7th, 2004

Appellate court reverses state election law ruling
2004-04-07
By Robert E. Boczkiewicz
The Oklahoman

DENVER -- An appeals court ruled Tuesday that an Oklahoma law requiring semi-closed primary elections is unconstitutional.

The ruling came in a case where the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma challenged the law that prohibits a political party from allowing registered voters of other parties to vote in its primary and runoff primary elections.

The 3-0 ruling from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a judge in Oklahoma City, who ruled last year that the law is constitutional and refused to grant an injunction to permanently bar enforcement of the law.

"This is a good victory for the First Amendment," said James Linger of Tulsa, a lawyer for the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma. "They (the appellate judges) are saying each political party can decide on its own" whether to allow registered voters of other parties to vote in its primary and runoff elections.

The ruling does not change the option of parties to close their primary elections to members of other parties. Republican and Democratic parties do not want members of other parties to vote in their primary and runoff elections, Linger said.

The Libertarian Party wanted to allow Republicans and Democrats to vote in the party's 2000 primary election, but the state Election Board would not allow it. The Libertarians, who had 382 registered voters, sued.

The appellate judges concluded that Oklahoma's election laws "impermissibly violate" the Libertarian Party's constitutional right "to freedom of political association."
The Libertarian Party thinks each party should be allowed to decide for itself and that the law should not bar registered voters of one political party from voting in another party's primary if the party does not object.

Oklahoma's law provides that a political party may allow registered independents to vote in its primary and runoff elections, but may not allow registered voters of other parties to vote in its elections.

A spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who represented the Election Board in defending the law, said Edmondson will not comment on the decision until his staff has made a thorough review of it.

Some Republican and Democratic voters, some of whom were candidates, joined the Libertarian Party in its lawsuit.

The appellate judges said the rights of parties "seeking to restrict the associational opportunities of their registered members" do not outweigh the party's right to "associate" with members of other parties.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot in Oklahoma City, in ruling against the Libertarian Party, had upheld the law on grounds that it helped insure "that the results of a primary election ... accurately reflect the voting of the party members."   ¶ 8:28 PM