LAWTON – The Comanche County Election Board rejected challenges that a Republican candidate for Comanche County sheriff filed against two other GOP contenders for that post, leaving voters to make the final decision.
Andy Moon, 46, of Lawton, filed petitions contesting the eligibility of fellow Republican candidates Michael Merritt, 56, of Lawton, and Dell Galloway, 58, of Lawton. Election Board members Don Nelson, Dee Gauthier, and County Election Board Secretary Amy Sims voted unanimously to reject both challenges.
The names of all three candidates will appear on the Republican ballot during the primary election June 18. A runoff election, if necessary, will be held Aug. 27. The Republican nominee will face Democrat David Stroud, 66, of Elgin, in the general election Nov. 5.
The winner will succeed Kenny Stradley, 74, who is stepping down after 34 years as sheriff. Stradley said he plans to devote his retirement years to his family.
Merritt’s case took one hour and 44 minutes to resolve on April 16; Galloway’s, 15 minutes.
Moon’s challenge of Merritt’s candidacy focused on Section 510 of Title 19 of the State Statutes.
That section stipulates that a candidate for county sheriff must have “served as a duly certified peace officer, in a full-time capacity, for a period of four (4) years or more prior to the date of filing for the office of county sheriff…” Section 510 clarifies that ‘peace officer’ “shall mean a full-time duly appointed or elected officer who is paid for working more than twenty-five (25) hours per week and whose duties are to preserve the public peace, protect life and property, prevent crime, serve warrants, and enforce state, federal or military laws and local ordinances of this state or any political subdivision thereof.”
Moon, a graduate of Elgin High School, said on Facebook that Comanche County “has always been my home.” After military service he returned to Lawton, and for more than the past 20 years “I have been a law enforcement officer serving Southwest Oklahoma and abroad.”
Responding to questions from his attorney, Michael J. Fields, Merritt said he has been “a member of this community” his entire life. He graduated from MacArthur High School in 1986, attended Cameron University, and became a registered voter after he turned 18.
He retired from the Lawton Fire Department on June 30, 2013, after a 25-year career. He then joined the Comanche County Sheriff’s Department, where he worked as a deputy from July 1, 2013, through Nov. 30, 2014, a period of 17 months.
The next day, Dec. 1, 2014, Merritt became the county’s Emergency Management director, a post he held for six years and nine months, until Sept. 7, 2021, when he “went back to work as a deputy” for Stradley. Merritt filed for sheriff on April 3, 2024.
Merritt was licensed by CLEET (the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training), which for all practical purposes is “the police academy,” on Jan. 23, 2014. He said he has maintained his law enforcement officer certification and its continuing education requirements continuously ever since.
Fields, a former prosecutor in western Oklahoma who joined Glenn Coffee & Associates law firm in Oklahoma City in January, showed that Merritt has been compensated as a peace officer for a total of 48 monthly pay periods – four years.
‘Opening a Pandora’s Box’ Moon’s attorney, Evan Watson of Lawton, argued that Merritt’s candidacy does not comport with “the plain language” of the statute because he was not employed full-time as a peace officer for four consecutive years. “The statute does not recognize gaps in service,” Watson said.
He also showed that Merritt was five days shy of four full years of service as a peace officer when he filed for sheriff. “Those days have to matter and account for something,” Watson said. If this time a candidate is five days short of four full years, what is the threshold next time before a candidate will be disqualified, he indicated with his argument.
Sims made the motion to retain Merritt on the ballot, and Gauthier and Nelson concurred.
Moon’s challenge of Galloway’s candidacy also focused on Title 19, Section 510.
One of its provisions states that a candidate for county sheriff must have been an Oklahoma resident for two years prior to filing for the office.
Watson introduced property tax records showing that Galloway bought some property in a suburb of Little Rock, Arkansas, in August 2021, and sold his house in Comanche County four months later. Watson also pointed to a 2021 Facebook post in which Galloway announced he was “stepping away from law enforcement.”
“We’re opening a Pandora’s Box if we don’t follow the statutes,” Watson asserted.
Galloway said he previously served in the Marine Corps and then in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Sill. He owned a house in Lawton for a little over 19 years but sold it after his first wife died.
He told Southwest Ledger that he moved to Cabot, Arkansas, for a time – “where I raised grandkids and played a little golf” – but said he returned to Oklahoma last August “because I missed law enforcement.”
Galloway said he received CLEET certification as a peace officer in 2012, and previously told the Ledger he had been a reserve police officer in Geronimo and at Medicine Park.
Galloway said he also served in the Comanche Nation Police Department, where he was a lieutenant and a patrol supervisor. He also held a federal commission through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which enabled him to work for a month on the 2.2 million-acre Crow Reservation in Montana in 2020 “because they were shorthanded.”
This will be his third campaign for sheriff. He also ran for the post in 2012 and again in 2020.
Galloway represented himself before the Election Board but said, “I did seek legal counsel” before filing as a candidate for sheriff.
When asked for his opinion about Galloway’s case, Assistant District Attorney Brent Parmer said, “There’s nothing in the law about how that two years must be interpreted, whether that’s currently or recently or previously.” In the absence of case law, “You are the Supreme Court on this,” Parmer told the Election Board.
Galloway “has had a vested interest in Oklahoma for 19 years and owned property in Oklahoma,” Gauthier said. Nelson then made a motion to “leave him on the ballot,” and the vote was unanimous.
Moon was required to post two $250 cashier’s checks for his two challenges; Merritt and Galloway each had to provide a $250 cashier’s check. Galloway and Merritt will get all of their money back, while some of the expenses from the challenges will be subtracted from Moon’s money and the balance will be returned to him, Sims told the Ledger.