The Resolution of Election Disputes: Legal Principles that Control Election Challenges Neither ballot was counted by the county election board, but both were allowed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. This decision gave Mr. Boevers two additional votes and the nomination as the Republican Party candidate for the District 1 commissioner in Canadian County, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Supreme Court had two state statutes to interpret in reaching its decision. The first statute made invalid, and not to be counted, any ballot that had a distinguishing mark on it. After noting the long history of the statute and that the statute codifies the common law, the supreme court said of the term “distinguishing mark,” The term is one of art. It does not include every form of excess material penned on the ballot but not needed to show the voter’s designated intention. Under the proscribed rubric fall only those marks—not used in an attempt to indicate a voter’s choice—which show on the face of the ballot, or from evidence aliunde, a deliberate intent of having been placed there to set the ballot apart from others. At 1336 (emphasis supplied).82 The supreme court explained that the purpose of the rule voiding ballots with distinguishing marks is “to protect the secrecy of the elections and to discourage bribery, fraud or corruption.” At 1336 n.7 (citation omitted). The court concluded that the X combined with the cross-out did not constitute a prohibited distinguishing mark. The second statute dealt with the kind of markings that voters could use to vote for a candidate. They included a circle or square that had been “blackened in ink, even if the entire circle or square is not filled and even if the blackened portion may extend beyond the boundaries of the circle or square.” The Oklahoma Supreme Court determined that the squiggly mark in the box next to Mr. Boevers’ name was within the statute’s definition of acceptable marks. After finding that the marks on the two ballots fit within the allowable limits of the state laws, the Oklahoma Supreme Court concluded that, Evidence aliunde means evidence from outside or from another source. Black’s Law Dictionary 30 (2d Pocket Ed. 2001). As used here, it means evidence other than that which can be obtained from the face of the ballot. 82 98