In-person early voting turnout is up from June’s primary election four years ago, according to state data.
Just over 48,400 Oklahomans voted in person last week ahead of Tuesday’s election. This eclipses early voting numbers in 2022, the last time the governor position was on the ballot. That primary saw over 29,000 voters cast ballots in person ahead of primary election day.
Just before 2 p.m. on Monday, 19,525 mail ballots had been submitted, according to Misha Mohr, a spokesperson for the State Election Board. The board received just over 27,700 mail ballots in total in the June 2022 primary. Mail-in ballots for this election are due to county election boards by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, and hand delivered ballots are due by the end of Monday.
Two-thirds of this election’s in-person early voters were registered Republicans, over a quarter were Democrats and about 5% were independents. Less than 1% were Libertarians. About half of Oklahoma voters are registered Republicans, a quarter are Democrats, a fifth are independents and about 1% are Libertarians, according to voter registration data from the end of last month.
Friday, the second day of Oklahoma’s three-day early voting period, saw the highest turnout with almost 19,500 ballots cast.
Just under 18,000 voters cast their ballot on Thursday, the first day of early voting. Saturday, the last day of early voting, saw 10,925 voters cast ballots.
The State Election Board did not have overall data for early voting turnout in 2018, the last time there was not an incumbent governor on the ballot. But election results from that year show 45,742 Oklahomans cast ballots for the governor’s race during the in-person early voting period.
The primary saw Republican, Democrats and Libertarian gubernatorial races.
Unlike this year, the 2022 and 2018 Democratic primaries were open to independent voters. Democrats did not file the necessary paperwork to open their primaries to independents, though there is a nonpartisan state question on Tuesday’s ballot that would increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029. All registered voters can weigh in on that.
Oklahomans can visit the state’s voter portal to view a sample ballot and find their polling locations on Tuesday.
- 3:39 pm Editor's note: The story was updated to clarify mail-in balloting.
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com.