Tulsa County is adding two additional sites for in-person early voting. Those sites will be in addition to two existing sites, for a total of four, each in a different quadrant of the city.
Two months ago, Mayor Monroe Nichols and city councilors urged the county election board to open an early voting site in north Tulsa. But Tulsa County Elections Secretary Gwen Freeman says that is not why this is happening now.
Freeman tells KWGS, "We have been looking at adding early voting locations for a midterm general for a long time, way before the mayor or city council asked for it."
"In fact, we had gone before the county commissioners and said, look, you know, we’re coming up on a really busy midterm November, um, and that was over a year ago when we talked to them about, you know, hey, we’re going to need some extra locations."
As for critics who say that’s still not enough locations, Freeman has a ready response. "Early voting," she says, "is not meant for convenience. It’s not meant to be in your area. It’s not chosen for your particular area. If (you) want a more convenient location, that’s Election Day. That’s when your precinct is probably somewhere in your neighborhood.”
The new locations are at O’Brien Park, near Lewis and 66th Street North, and Chandler Park, off west 21st Street. Early ballots can also still be cast at two previous locations, the elections office near I-44 and 11th Street or Tulsa Tech in Broken Arrow.
Early voting takes place over four days beginning Wednesday, October 28th.
