OKLAHOMA CITY – For the second consecutive time, Leslie Osborn has been forced into a runoff in a three-way statewide GOP primary race for state Labor Commissioner.
Osborn, the incumbent, got 47.82% of the 335,958 votes in the final unofficial count in that contest Tuesday, while legislator Sean Roberts received 38.27% of them. Keith Swinton was the spoiler, with the remaining 13.91% of the votes.
Osborn and Roberts will face off Aug. 23 in a runoff primary.
Four years ago Osborn ran second behind Cathy Costello, widow of former Labor Commissioner Mark Costello, in the June 2018 Republican primary for Labor Commissioner, and Swinton came in third. However, Osborn bested Costello in the August runoff.
Swinton, 58, of Norman, is reported to be a project engineer at Ready Services and RefWorks.
Osborn, 58, of Mustang, is a former member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives who is seeking her second term as Labor Commissioner. During her time as commissioner she has traveled across the state to present safety seminars to numerous companies.
Roberts, 48, of Hominy, terms out of the Legislature this year. He identified himself as Sean “The Patriot” Roberts when he filed for labor commissioner, but the State Election Board nixed the moniker.
He maintains that he has “a proven conservative background” in the Legislature “and has the business experience required to run the Oklahoma Department of Labor.”
A year ago Roberts asked State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax to call for a “forensic and independent audit” of the 2020 general election results in Oklahoma County and two other “random” counties in the state.
The “timing and manner of the audit you have requested appears to be inconsistent with the requirements of state law,” Ziriax responded. “Your request would require a new law enacted by the State Legislature and the appropriation of necessary funding.”
The cost of a simple recount isn’t cheap, as House Bill 2564, which went into effect later that year, demonstrated. What Roberts wanted was an in-depth audit of the votes counted in Oklahoma County and two other counties. The lawmaker said what he requested would consist of audits of voter registration and votes cast, vote count and tally, election voting systems, and reported results.
Almost 300,000 votes were cast in Oklahoma County in the 2020 Presidential race.
In his response to Roberts, Ziriax pointed out that “not a single state or federal candidate in Oklahoma exercised the right to request a recount” after the 2020 general election – a “strong sign” that Oklahoma candidates, from the top of the ballot to the bottom, “trusted the veracity and outcome of our elections.”
Ziriax informed Roberts that the State Election Board was already testing audit techniques “and we plan to implement a system of random post-election audits for the 2022 elections.”
The victor in the GOP runoff Aug. 23 will advance to the Nov. 8 general election and face Democrat Jack Henderson, 71, of Tulsa, and Libertarian Will Daugherty, 28, of Yukon.