Over 200,000 Ballots Cast In Tulsa County

In Tulsa County, about 65 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. In a few state races, Democrats won where Republicans had before, and education may have been the key issue.

In Tulsa County, almost 13,000 people voted early, 10,000 voted absentee, and 179,000 voted Tuesday. A lot voted right along party lines. Two-thirds of Republicans voted a straight ticket, but only one-third of the Democrats did.

Newly elected State Representative Melissa Provezano said she was hopeful, but not certain, she would win.

“And so, you feel good, but you don't really know, so when the results came in, it was really powerful,” said Provezano.

She's one of a handful of Democrats who flipped a district typically held by Republicans.

“If you can talk to somebody for 4 or 5 minutes, that kind of goes away, and you can have a conversation that's meaningful and then you can kind of do the work,” Provezano said.

The change came as more people voted than usual. In Tulsa County, 202,000 ballots were cast, but there are still far more registered voters; about two-thirds actually took part.

Many also voted straight party. 82,000 voters in Tulsa County; 477,000 statewide.
    
"We not only beat 2014 turnout by some 40 percent but we are also about 15 percent above 2010, which was the last time there was an open Governors seat,” said David Blatt with Oklahoma Policy Institute.

Blatt believes voters were energized by national politics. He believes on the state level, education issues helped drive voters to the polls and it changed how they voted.

"I think most of the Republicans elected are from the more moderate wing of the party, on the other hand, you could say the Republican mandate was so overwhelming this was really a mandate to move back to the right," Blatt said.