OKLAHOMA CITY – State Auditor & Inspector Cindy Byrd cruised Tuesday to her second four-year term, trouncing challenger Steven W. McQuillen.
Byrd, of Coalgate, led from the very outset, receiving almost 71% of the 30,910 votes that were cast absentee and in early voting. She ended the night by capturing 70.05% of the 348,740 votes counted in that contest, compared to 29.95% for McQuillen, of Tulsa.
The statewide primary race was winner-take-all since no Democrat filed for the post.
Byrd, 49, has earned a reputation for uncovering malfeasance in audits her office performed in the towns of Lone Wolf, Bennington, Blackwell, Hartshorne and Tryon, of Circuit Engineering District 7 in western Oklahoma, and of the Seeworth Academy in Oklahoma City.
Her lengthy, comprehensive audits of Epic Charter Schools resulted in criminal charges filed against the two co-founders and the former chief financial officer.
She graduated from East Central University in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. In 2003 she became a certified public accountant, and in January 2013 Byrd became the deputy state auditor under former State Auditor Gary Jones. Byrd was elected to her first term as State Auditor & Inspector in 2018.
McQuillen, 65, pointed to the 29 years he has owned and operated a bookkeeping/tax service, worked as a tax technician for Deloitte and Touche, “and for the past 23 years I’ve been a fixed asset accountant for Tulsa Public Schools.”
A significant amount of “dark money” from unidentified sources was spent to attack Byrd in the SA&I campaign, but evidently had little effect.