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Late Monday afternoon, Enid-based attorney Stephen Jones filed a lawsuit with the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax to try and stop that election from taking place.

Listen: Attorney Stephen Jones Speaks With KWON Radio About This Lawsuit 

According to Jones’ filing on Monday, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s March 1 “Executive Department Executive Proclamation to the Oklahoma State Election Board and Secretaries of the County Election Boards ordering a Special Election to be held to fill a vacancy in the Office of United States Senator from Oklahoma” is premature.

Jones filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court because “there is insufficient time for the filing of a district court case and an appeal, if necessary,” according to his petition.

“Section 12-101(C)(1) of Title 26 of the Oklahoma Statutes states: ‘A Special Primary, Runoff Primary and General Election shall be held concurrently with the next available regularly scheduled statewide Primary, Runoff Primary and General Election, and a special candidate filing period shall be on the same dates as a regular candidate filing period for those elections,” Jones’ filing states. “Again, the vacancy in Senator Inhofe’s office is not scheduled to occur until January 3, 2023 at the earliest. The next regularly scheduled statewide Primary, Runoff Primary and General Election after January 3, 2023 is in 2024.”

Consequently, there is no present legal impediment to Senator Inhofe withdrawing or revoking his pledge to retire and remaining in office through the expiration of his term in January 2027,” Jones’ filing reads. “Therefore, it is clearly premature to have a special election in 2022 to replace Senator Inhofe when Senator Inhofe has the present right to remain in office until the expiration of his term in January 2027.”

Supreme Court Filing agains... by Colleen Welcher