Data Shows Overall Decline Of Tulsans Registered To Vote

A surge of voter registration applications this summer didn't reverse the decline in numbers of potential voters in Tulsa County, and there was a sharp drop in the number of registered Democrats.

Many of the recent applications likely came through the efforts for a ballot initiative on medical marijuana, according to Patty Bryant, Tulsa County Election Board Secretary.

The election board believes 2,845 new voter applications came from the initiative process. The election board reports that 580 of those applications were rejected as incomplete or illegible. 1,160 were improperly sent to Tulsa County, and were forwarded to other counties corresponding to the address on the form.

Tulsa County now has 329,453 registered voters, compared to 337,222 in August of 2010.

The number of Republican voters was relatively stable - 166,940 now compared to 166,037 four years ago - but the number of Democrats dropped from 131,120 to 119,912 during the same time period. The number of independent party registrations also increased by 2,500 voters, but the election board noted Independent is the default registration for people who do not select either party on their registration form.

All but one of Tulsa's city council districts lost several thousand voters each. Council District 4, which includes parts of downtown, added 1,600 new voters.

The number of voters inside the City of Tulsa dropped from 212,484 to 201,811 voters, accounting for most of the overall loss in Tulsa County.