OKLAHOMA CITY – Voter registration rolls in Oklahoma are surging ahead of the Friday, October 9, deadline for registering to vote in the November 3 general election, State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax announced.
In a related matter, the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot for the general election is 5 p.m. October 27.
By the end of September, the State Election Board realized a net increase of more than 116,000 registered voters since January 15 – including more than 34,000 registered in the past month alone.
• Oklahoma had 2,206,208 total registered voters as of September 30, compared to 2,090,107 on January 15.
• Registered Republicans number 1,100,032; Democrats, 739,466; Independents, 353,269; and Libertarians, 13,441, Ziriax reported.
• Republicans have experienced a net gain of 91,463 registered voters since January 15 and now constitute about 49.9% of all registered voters in Oklahoma.
• Democrats have seen a net increase of 1,210 registered voters since January 15 and now comprise 33.5% of all registered voters.
• There has been a net increase of 21,158 registered Independents since January 15 and are now 16% of all registered voters.
• Libertarians have had a net increase of 2,270 registered voters since January 15 and are less than 1% of registered voters.
HISTORICAL NOTES
Oklahoma’s 2020 voter registration statistics continue a decades-long trend of growth for Republicans and Independents as a percentage of the electorate.
When Oklahoma started tracking voter registration statistics by party in 1960, Democrats constituted 82% of registered voters and Republicans were about 17%.
In January of 2010, Democrats were 49% of Oklahoma’s registered voters and Republicans were a little less than 40%.
Democrats were the largest political party in the state until January 2015, when they were surpassed by Republicans for the first time.