Sen. Joe Newhouse, R-Tulsa, wants all 50 states to return to using paper ballots to cut down on the voter fraud that impacted the 2020 presidential election.

The voter problems, which could have swung the election from President Trump to Joe Biden, has angered more than 70 million Americans who legally cast ballots for Trump.

 “I’ve never seen people more passionate than I have the past several weeks,” said Newhouse. “With all the election fraud going on, people are not standing idly by. They are getting motivated. They are protesting.

“It seems like those of us on the right, we are too busy working jobs so we can’t be the ones who are protesting but we are saying, look, enough is enough. We are not going to stand idly by and let this happen to us.

“We want honest elections. You look at Third World countries and we are seeing the same thing happen in the United States.”

Oklahoma has one of the strongest and tightest election systems in the country, Newhouse said. Electronic voting methods can be hacked and they open the door to influence from foreign nations.

Challenging session in February

State government is facing some challenges as lawmakers prepare to convene in the 2021 session at the Capitol in February.

“Our economy is suffering from the setbacks due to the coronavirus,” Newhouse said. “On the other hand, there is federal infusion of ‘Monopoly money’ around the country. We don’t to see all this artificial money being created to prop up the economy. It’s going to be an infusion into our own economy.”

The federal funding creates a problem because it is not ongoing, Newhouse said. A good example is federal funds to local public schools.

In 2008, the federal government gave “stimulus” handouts to schools but that was only for one year. Public education proponents now point back to the inflated revenues from 2008 to demand more money for public education.

That 2008 benchmark has become a political weapon against conservative lawmakers.

“We need to be careful in the future that these dollars not be counted against us,” Newhouse said. “Those are not sustainable Oklahoma dollars.”

The state economy is lagging yet the Legislature must come up with hundreds of millions of extra dollars to fund the new Medicaid funds that were imbedded in the State Constitution due to passage of a state question. Newhouse voted against that state question.

“We’re struggling to find money for our core services,” Newhouse said. “It’s going to be quite a debate. It’s that many of us conservatives were speaking about last year, saying, look, you put this into the Constitution, this has to be funded. There is no other alternative.”

State Question 814, which would have diverted millions of dollars a year from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust to Medicaid, was defeated by state voters in November.

Students back in school?

Newhouse said the overwhelming feedback he has received from his district is in favor of public school students returning to the classroom and away from “distance learning.” Each school district has reacted to the Chinese coronarvirus pandemic with in-school teaching, distance learning or a combination of the two.

“It’s a mess, to be quite honest with you,” Newhouse said. “I am not ignoring my constituents. We are getting flooded by families really demanding that their kids be allowed to be sent back to school.”

Some families in certain income levels cannot afford to have their kids home alone unsupervised while they are at work, Newhouse said.

“I am getting a lot of angry, frustrated families, saying, look, help us get our kids back in school,” Newhouse said.

This is another reason why school board elections – held in February and inevitably with low voter turnout – need more attention from the public, he said.

“People are asking, how can we rescind these school board members?” Newhouse said. “We are making these demands and they aren’t even listening to us.”

The answer could be to align school board elections with the normal election cycle but progressives won’t accept that, Newhouse said.

Rights versus restrictions

In terms of the coronavirus, government must balance the need to protect people with the surrender of individual rights and freedoms, Newhouse said. A national proposal to penalize anyone who refuses to take the coronavirus vaccine is not going to pass in Oklahoma, Newhouse said.

“I would never support that,” he said. “I don’t think you can ever force someone to be injected with something. That’s their body. They shouldn’t be forced by the government… My concern is at the national level. That has gotten crazy.”

Constitutional convention?

Also in this upcoming session, Newhouse is hoping for a state constitutional convention to review the State Constitution. It is supposed to happen every 20 years but it hasn’t been done in 40 years.

Oklahoma has the second largest constitution in the nation and it was written by progressives and socialists.

“There are details that we do not need in there, it’s antiquated and archaic – it’s time to modernize our constitution,” Newhouse said.

Protecting freedoms

Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, filed three bills on aimed to restrain the power of government in its response to the Chinese Coronavirus.

“As we start a new year and prepare to begin a new legislative session, it’s time we focus on the core reason for the institution of government – protecting people’s rights,” Dahm said. “We’ve seen mayors, city councilors and government bureaucrats across this state issue edicts and dictates infringing on the rights of the people. The bills I’m introducing are aimed at protecting people’s rights, and I look forward to the legislature joining me in passing these much-needed protections.”

Senate Bill 224 would pre-empt cities and counties to prohibit them from any current or future mandates forcing the wearing of masks on public or private property.

“If business owners or private property owners want to require masks on their own property, that is a choice they can make,” Dahm said. “However, government forcing private property owners to comply under threat of penalty is beyond their delegated powers.”

In addition, SB 223 would prohibit the state of Oklahoma, as well as any political subdivision, from forcing citizens to take any immunization, including the COVID-19 vaccine. It would also prohibit the state from requiring a vaccine to receive any government services or rights protected by the Constitution.

“We’ve heard suggestions from government bureaucrats that they intend to force or require the COVID-19-vaccine in order to travel, attend school, and similar requirements,” Dahm said.

 “Our rights are not contingent upon vaccination status, and whether or not to take the vaccine should be up to each individual – not forced or coerced by the government.”

SB 255 would address concerns with contact tracing to ensure it is done in a voluntary manner and protects people’s private data, so it is not used or tracked without permission or a warrant.

“Our Founding Fathers enshrined in our Constitution the right of the people to be secure in their persons, papers and effects,” Dahm said. “That right doesn’t stop during emergency situations and must always be protected. “

Each bill has been introduced with an emergency provision and would become law immediately upon passage and signature by the governor.

“With the chance of a special session to assist government agencies during COVID, we have the possibility to also protect the rights of Oklahoma citizens,” Dahm said. “Even without a special session, we could move these bills quickly through the legislature when we convene in February to restore the people’s rights and limit and restrain government.”