Senator Lankford speaks about election security, voter safety leading up to Election Day

MOORE, Okla. (KFOR) — With only a week left until the 2024 general election, U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) answered questions about voter safety and security after an event in Moore on Tuesday morning.

With one week out from the election, what are the biggest issues that voters are focusing on?

Everybody has a different reason for voting everytime. So there’s no one way to pigeon hole. Everybody always votes in this area.

People are looking at the economy. People are looking at the border. People are looking at international policy. People are looking at tax policy. So my encouragement is pick your issue, what actually is your deciding feature and get out and vote.

The best thing we can do is actually vote and show up.

After what happened a couple weeks ago with security in Oklahoma, how are officials ensuring that voters are safe at the polls?

The FBI did a really good job interdicting two individuals that were planning to be able to murder as many people as possible on Election Day. They were able to identify them, able to identify the international connection, arrest them as well and be able to wrap that up as well.

There’s been a lot of work to be able to protect our elections, already a lot of people have already voted by mail, there will be a lot of folks voting early, which I encourage people to be able to do, and then day of.

Our election sites and our election system in Oklahoma is very secure so I encourage people to not only vote, their vote can be trusted there, but also get out and get a chance to go vote.

It’s the same thing as always. If you hear about something or you see something, say something. We need everybody to be able to have their eyes up, to say that doesn’t look right, and to feel free to be able to report it as well.

What are your thoughts about the Presidential election a week out?

The Presidential race is a total toss-up at this point. Depends on how people show up, and I don’t think it’s in doubt in Oklahoma but I would tell you in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, there are lots of states that are true toss-up states that will end up being the decision makers in this.

Not only that but also the United States Senate. Right now,  Democrats actually lead the United States Senate. It’s 51 to 49. We have a lot of seats that are up in the Senate right now and it looks very likely that Republicans will take leadership in the Senate but we’re gonna be able to allow Americans to decide in the days ahead.

What about security at polling areas?

The polling areas are being made as secure as possible across the entire country right now. Local law enforcement has engaged county law enforcement. We’ve got lots of Sheriff’s Departments. Everybody that’s working to be to develop very secure places for the polls. So, I do encourage people to be able to show up and to be able to vote, knowing that there’s also gonna be folks out there watching and law enforcement as they always do but especially on this day around polling.

When people show up to vote, thank the folks that are there serving polling places. Those folks are volunteering their time. They’re spending lots of time. They’re there. People may take a long time to be able to vote, not as long as it does for the poll workers there so be respectful for all those volunteers and those folks that are helping. Thank them personally for the task that they’re doing on that.

And then also for them, those folks that are at the polling places, they should not only feel secure and feel the gratitude of the community, they need to know that law enforcement is around them. So law enforcement will be in many of those locations, either throughout times of the day or sometimes they’ll just park there in that location to make sure that that location is secure as possible.

With the divisiveness and violence leading up to the election, what are you personally hoping will happen after Election Day?

One of the unique parts about our American Republic, and our particular form of government, is that when we have disagreements, we vote, we settle our disagreements with a vote and then we move on.

And if you lose the election, you come back again and say here’s why I feel like I should’ve won the next time and you work towards the next time and work to be able to persuade people around you.

What we don’t do is be able to break into violence. That’s what we see in other countries. That should not be so here.

So for the United States, we should have our disagreements. We don’t all agree. I mean people on the same street don’t all agree on things. People that are in the same church or in the same family don’t all agree on every issue. That’s ok.

We’re Americans and our rights are protected as Americans to be able to disagree on issues. But we should be able to do that in a respectful way. And to be able to say that person’s not my enemy. That person’s a fellow American. I may disagree with you on issues, but we’re probably gonna agree on other issues.

So for me personally, I look at people through a biblical lens, and to be able to say, I respect that person, because they’re created in the image of God, they have value and worth. I may disagree with them on issues, but I’m gonna respect that issue and that person because I believe they’re created in the image of God and they have value.

Elections bring out our greatest division in our country. It exposes where we disagree. Especially in the days leading up to the elections. When our election is done, we should immediately turn to each other and say, ‘I won, I lost, whatever may be, let’s move forward, we’re still neighbors. We’re still fellow Oklahomans,  let’s figure out the areas where we can work together.