OKLAHOMA CITY — The Democratic Party lost 40,700 voters last year, while the Republican Party gained more than 31,880. The number of Oklahoma voters registering as independent increased by 13,500, and Libertarians grew by nearly 2,000.
An official voter registration report by the Oklahoma State Election Board shows 2,225,086 Oklahomans were registered to vote as of Jan. 15, 2023; that number represented an increase of 6,700 voters during the past 12 months.
The annual report was released days after the State Election Board conducted its statutorily required voter list maintenance process, removing inactive and duplicate voters.
The latest count shows Republicans constitute 51.9% of registered voters. Democrats have slipped to 29.5% of the voting population, independents account for nearly 17.7% and Libertarians represent the remaining 0.9% of voters.
The routine voter list maintenance process was conducted Jan. 13 and removed 2,855 duplicate voter registrations and 83,719 inactive voter registrations from Oklahoma’s voter rolls, Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said.
“Removal of inactive and duplicate voter registrations is a thorough, multi-step process the State Election Board is required by law to conduct every two years after a general election,” he said.
Duplicate registrations that were deleted matched newer registrations by the same person at a new address. Inactive registrations that were removed were for voters who failed to confirm their address in 2019 and then had no voter activity through the 2022 general election.
The 2019 address confirmation notices were sent to some voters for one of several reasons required by law, said Misha Mohr, public information officer for the State Election Board. Those reasons included individuals who:
• Surrendered an Oklahoma driver’s license upon being issued a new one in another state.
• Had a first-class mailing from the Election Board returned as “undeliverable.”
• Were identified as a potential duplicate of a voter registration in another county or state.
• Had no voter activity from the 2016 general election through the 2018 general election.
Ziriax reminded Oklahomans that the voter registration deadline for the March 7 election is Feb. 10. Applications must be postmarked or received by that deadline.
In a related matter, state Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, filed a measure to increase compensation for election precinct officials. Senate Bill 290 would boost the paycheck for election inspectors from $110 to $225 and double the pay for judges and clerks from $100 to $200.
The four-month first regular session of the 59th Legislature starts Feb. 6.